
Glass. 
Book. 



^riJ 



n.r 



''The Whitestown Country/' 

1 784-- 1 884. 



Centennial Celebration of the Settlement 
of Whitestown June 5, 1884. 



WHITESBOROS ''GOLDEN AGE. 






F, 



;^7 




THE WHITESTOWN CEiNTEj^iNIAL 



PRELIMINARY. 



At a meeting of the Oneida Historical Society, held April 10, 
1883, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted: 

As the fifth day of June, 1884, will complete a century of years 
since the arrival at Whitesboro, for the purpose of residence, of 
Hugh White and family, whicli was the beginning of the first 
permanent settlement of Oneida County and "the Whitestown 
Country," it seems fit and becoming in the people of this region to 
mark the centennial with appropriate observance ; and if deemed 
advisable that it be observed with public addresses and other 
ceremony, in honor of the heroic men wlio, throughout the 
territory, opened the way for their successors, it seems also tit that 
the Oneida Historical Society should take the initial steps toward 
the accomplishment of this purpose, therefore 

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to confer upon 
the advisability of such public celebration, and, in case of approval, 
upon the proper mode of conducting the same, and that they 
report thereon at the next regular meeting of the Society, said 
committee to consist of lions. Samuel Campbell, D. E. Wager, 
Amos O. Osborn and William M. White and S. N, D. North, Esq. 

At the regular meeting of the society, held May 8, 188-3, the 
above named committee rej^orted favorably of a public celebration 
of the centennial anniversary, to be held at Whitesboro ; recom- 
mended that a memorial shaft be erected near the first dwelling of 
Judge Hugh White, which shall be unveiled on the occasion; that 
the literary exercises consist of a historical address and a dedica- 
tory address, and also of a poem ; that the exercises conclude with 
a collation for invited guests, to be followed by brief addresses and 
reminiscences; that the Historical Society appoint a committee, 



8 THE WHITESTOWJSr CENTENNTAL. 

broader in its embrace than its own membership, and large enough 
for subdivision, which shall have charge of the arrangements for 
the celebration, raise the necessary funds and carry out the pro- 
gramme, independent of the Historical Society ; and lastly for the 
accomplishment of these purposes, they recommended the follow- 
ing committee, viz. : 



Samuel Campljell, Cliairuian, of 

Wbitestown. 
Wm. D. Walcott, of Whitestown. 
L. L. Wigbt, of Wbitestown. 
George Williams, of Wliitestown. 
George Grabam, of Origkany. 
Ricb. U. Sbearman,of New Hartford. 
Wm. S. Bartlett, of Clinton, 
Jobn L. Dean, of Westmoreland. 
A. P. Case, of Vernon. 
D. G. Doi'rance, of Oneida Castle. 
A. O. Osborn, of Waterville. 
D. E. Wager, of Rome. 
A. C. Kessinger, of Rome. 



Lutber Guiteau, of Trenton, 
Fred. G. Weaver, of Deerfield. 
Wm. M. Wbite, of Utica. 
A. T. Goodwin, of Utica. 
Jobn F. Seymour, of Utica. 

C. W. Hutcbinson, of Utica. 
M. M. Jones, of Utica. 
Ellis H. Roberts, of Utica. 

D. W. C. (irove, of Utica. 
A. L. Woodruff, of Utica. 
Tbos. Foster, of Utica. 
M. M. Bagg, of Utica. 
Tbeo. S. Sayre, of Utica. 



The committee's report was approved and adopted. 



Without further action on the part of the society, preparation for 
the celebration was taken in hand by the committee, assisted by 
local sub-committees of their appointment ; every portion of the 
programme was provided for, and when the day arrived was most 
successfully carried out. 



THE CELEBRATION. 



On the 5th of June, 1884, thy beautiful vilhige of Whitesboro, 
the seat of the day's festivities, presented its luost attractive 
appearance. Its long, wide main avenue, lined with commodious 
residences and spacious grounds, and embowered by noble old 
trees, rich in midsummer foliage, gave the centennial settlement 
that peculiar charm which recalls its New England lineage. The 
day Avas exceptionally plea.^ant. The whole village was gay with 
holiday attire in which its hospitable citizens had decked it, in 
honor of the Whitestown birthday. 

The guests from the surrounding country soon began to arrive. 
They came on the street cars of the Utica and Whitesboro railroad, 
by the canal steamers and the trains of the New York Central, 
while a continuous stream of vehicles occupied the roads leading 
to the ancient county seat. 

The literary exercises of the day were conducted on a large 
platform, suitably decorated, standing in the center of the public 
" Gi-een " fronting the old Court House. That noted edifice, now 
the Tovvn Hall, swarmed with visitors registering their names, and 
busy directors. At the sides of the park the ladies of several of 
the churches had erected tasteful bootlis amply provided with 
refreshments for the thirsty and hungry. 

The monument was the center of observation throughout the 
day. It stands near the middle of the north side of the park. It 
is a symmetrical shaft of Quincy granite, rising nearly thirty feet 
from the base, having on the north face a polished shield in relief, 
bearing the inscription, 

TO COMMEMORATE 

THE FIRST SETTLEMEXT OF WHITESTOWN 

BY HUGH WHITE AND FAMILY, 

.JUNE, 1784. 

On the base is the lettering, 

"Erected 1884." 



10 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

The monument cost about |1,500. The additional expenses of 
the celebration raised the amount to about $2,100. Of this 
amount William M. White contributed $500, and members 
of the White family $500 more. The remainder was raised 
throug'h the personal solicitation of Thomas Foster and other 
membei's of the committee, and was contributed by about a dozen 
persons. 

The space within hearing distance of the platform was occupied 
by benches, where comfortably seated under the shade of the trees, 
the assembled thi-ong listened with the closest interest to the 
addresses and poem. The platform was occupied by Hon. Samuel 
Campbell, President Dunham, the speakers, members of the com- 
mittee and many ladies. 

About a hundred carriages lined the park, and from three to 
four thousand persons were present. 

The Whitestown band, carrying fourteen pieces, furnished the 
music of the day, assisted by the Oriskany Cornet Band of fifteen 
pieces. Both bands were uniformed in blue and buff. The New 
York Mills band also contributed their share of the music. 

At 11.20, Chairman Campbell called the assemblage to order. 
The exercises were opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. D. G. Corey, 
of Utica, who for 44 years has been pastor of the Bleecker street 
Baptist Church, 

Hon. Charles Tracy, of New York, was then introduced and 
delivered the historical address, which M-as most attentively listened 
to, the old settlers crowding up the steps of the stand to hear. 



THE HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



BY HON. CHARLES TRACY. 



A hundred years ! How such a period marks the earth and its 
people with changes. It sweeps away three generations, and 
hardly does one man who breathed at the beginning of the grand, 
cycle live five score j^ears and watch its ending. 

On a bright day in June, 1784, Hugh White, ascending the 
Mohawk river in a boat, reached the mouth of the Sadaqueda 
Creek and there landed, at the spot since known as the Point. 
With some of his sturdy sons he stepped into the vast forest 
stretching north, west and south to the bounds of the 
-State of New York, unbroken by any civilized settlement, 
without a natural prairie, and hardly opened to the sun 
except by a few scattered patches of Indian clearings. But 
they came to stay, and did stay. The fourth, fifth and sixth 
generations of his line w^itness to-day the centennial of that land- 
ing and the due honors rendered to those whose dust rests in peace 
in the fair land they won and reclaimed and beautified. 

This hundred of years includes three-eighths of the whole period 
from the first landing of English emigrants on the American coast 
down to the present day. 

The bold settlement of Manhattan Island by the Hollanders, 
and the establishment of their colonies along the Hudson and a 
part of the Mohawk, attracted emigrants from their own country 
and from Germany^ before the British succeeded to the govern- 
ment ; but after the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam had become 
the English province of New York, the difference of language 
hindered the infusion of British emigrants among the people. At 
the breaking out of the revolution the Hollanders in the valley of 
the Mohawk extended not many miles above Schenectady, from 
whence up to German Flats and Frankfoi't there were only 
Germans speaking their native tongue. The two peoples in the 
valley were similar in character and habits, and were in mutual 
friendship, but their dialects differed, and were distinguished as 
low Dutch and high Dutch. They held a region of remarkable 
fertility and beauty on both sides of the river, and there they cut 
■down the woods, made roads and bridges, built houses and 



12 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

churches, and cultivated theii- fruitful fields ; and in the winter, 
■when sleighing came, they "rode" their wheat to the town on the 
Hudson, now the city of Albany. They were in comfort, and 
were contented. 

But the great struggle of the Revolutionary war, and its 
wonderful success, aroused a spirit of enterprise throughout the 
union, and as soon as peace was proclaimed thousands of New 
Englanders were ready to go beyond the existing Mohawk 
paradise, and attack the primeval forest, which, as they had heard, 
covered a broad area of rich soil. Hugh White was the man' 
fitted by nature and chosen by providence to take the lead in this 
great enterprise. He was a substantial farmer of Middletown, 
Connecticut, fifty-one years old, with good habits, perfect integrity 
and ample vigor, promptitude, courage and mental force. 

Things were prepared for his hands. One Hugh Wallace had 
held a tract of 6,000 acres by grant from the British provincial 
government, sometimes known as Wallace's patent. It lay in this 
valley, extending from the mouth of the Sadaqueda, at the Point, 
along up the Mohawk river and back from it on each side, 
including a remarkable combination of interval with higher level 
plains and gently rising hills. The Indian title to this land had 
been lawfully acquired by purchase under the sanction of the 
provincial government, according to the just and honest course of 
dealing with the Indians which always prevailed from the days of 
the first Dutch emigration. Wallace was a merchant in the city 
of New York, and a member of the British governor's council. 
The Americans once " apprehended " him ; but after holding him 
prisoner in Connecticut for some time Governor Turnbull released 
him, and he returned to New York and resumed his seat in the 
council. His being a clear case of treason, the New York State 
Legislature, in the midst of the war, on the 22d day of October, 
1779, passed a speciafl act in which his name was included with 
some other like offenders. It opens thus : " Whereas, during the 
present unjust and cruel war, waged by the King of Great 
Britain, against this State, and the other United States of America, 
divers persons holding or claiming property v/ithin this State, 
have voluntarily been adherent to the said King, his fleets and 
armies, enemies to this State and the said other United States, 
with intent to subvert the government and liberties of this State 
and the said other United Slates, and to bring the same in sub- 
jection, to the crown of Great Britain; and whereas the public 
justice and safety of this State absolutely require, that the most 



ADDRESS OF HON, CHARLES TRACY. 1^ 

notorious offenders should be iminediately hereby convicted and 
attained of the offense aforesaid, in order to work a forfeiture of 
their respective estates, and vest the same in th.e people of this 
State." It then proceeds to enact that certain persons named, 
among them being- this Hugh Wallace, " be, and each of them are 
hereby severally declared to be, ipso facto, convicted and attainted 
of the offense aforesaid; and that all and singular the estate, both 
real and personal, held or claimed by them, tlie said persons 
severally and respectively, whether in possession, reversion or 
remainder, within this State, on the day of the passing of this act, 
shall be, and hereby is declared to be, forfeited to and invested in 
the people of tliis State." It further enacted that all said persons 
be forever banished from this State, and that if any one of them 
should ever be found in this State "he should suffer death without 
benefit of clergy." 

Thus Wallace's patent became the property of the State of New 
York by the best title known to the law. 

Shortly afterwards, in the same year, the State, by its Com- 
missioners of Forfeitures, sold this tract of land to Zephaniah 
Piatt, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Melancthon Smith and Hugh White 
jointly, and the property became better known as Sadaqueda 
Patent, thus taking the name of the beautiful stream already 
mentioned. 

The Indian name of this creek signifies "the stream of smooth 
pebbles," and the savages pronounced it Saghdaguaite. The 
French, who first wrote it, in their usual way shortened the name 
into Sauquoite, and pronounced it Sow-quait. The English after- 
wards wrote it and pronounced it Sadaqueda, and so it appears in 
maps and deeds through a long period. More recently the custom 
has been to use the French spelling but to apply to it an English 
pronunciation, and '•'■ Saio-quoW'' prevails. 

Piatt, L'Hommedieu, Smith and White divided the Jand between 
themselves. As Mr. White agreed to be the pioneer and settle on 
the ground, he was justly favored in the division, both as to choice 
of location and as to price, and he wisely chose the eastern part, 
taking in the cre<ik and its valleys and plains on both sides from 
the Point up to site of New York Mills, and he also purchased 
other grounds on the west side of his allotment; so that his 
possessions took in the "Green" where we now stand, and a 
valuable part of the site of this village and the graceful hills that 
rise on its borders. 

It is now full five score years since Hugh White thus entered 



14 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

upon his portion of the land. In the following year, 1785, he 
brought hither all his family and set up his home. The annual 
spring freshet of 1785 having surrounded the place near the Point, 
where he landed in 1784, he chose a spot on the plain near where 
we now are, and put up a temporary dwelling, which afterwards 
was succeeded by a substantial frame house, sided with boards 
brought from Schenectady. The soil about the house he cleared 
of every tree and shrub, except three maple saplings which had 
grown there from wild seed, and as he afterwards used to say, 
they were then not bigger than his whip stock. These were left 
to grow into shade trees. Their irregnlar positions and unequal 
distances show they nev.er were planted by the hand of man, but 
they stand thci'e now in nature's order, three remarkable trees, 
with an average diameter of three feet. Although a century has 
made its marks on their trunks and tops, and although they were 
bored for the sap and yielded sugar in many successive years, and 
one of them has lost so much timber that it looks now like a 
crippled giant, trying to stand on his last leg and keep up till the 
coming of this day's rejoicing, yet they are in full leaf to-day and 
retain some remnant of the beauty for which thousands have 
admired them. The old farm house has been transformed, but 
these three venerable sugar maples stand before us as living 
witnesses of the olden time. (See note A.) 

Hugh Wliite's house on this plain was built on the Connecticut 
model, which differed widely from that of ihe Dutch. The 
Dutch house had a long front, with less depth, a chimney at each 
end rising above the high gable and a roofed piazza along the 
fi'ont called by them a "stoop " — a Avord of theirs which has now 
become American. The Connecticut house had nearly a square form 
and a large chimney stack in the middle. To this day the former 
lingers in the lower valley, and some of the latter remain in 
Whitestown. The two styles distinguishable at a distance, show 
whether a Dutchman or a Yankee was the builder. The Tory 
refugees who sailed from New York harbor, in the autumn of 1783, 
were of both the races; and in the valley of Annapolis, in Nova 
Scotia, where King George gave them lands for their consolation 
in adversity, the tourist of to-day may see how the two races fol- 
lowed their respective old usages in the style of their dwellings. 

Mr. White and his sons proceeded with diligence to cut away 
the forest and convert their possessions into farms. The soil was 
absolutely perfect, yielding crops in quantity and quality far 
beyond their New England experience. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES TRACY. 15 

In later days botanists found that the native flora between the 
Oriskany and Sadaqueda creeks was remarkably extensive and in- 
teresting. 

News of White's settelement in this goodly region was not slow 
in spreading through his native land. Farmers who had worn out 
plows and hoes among rocks and stones, with scant reward, 
welcomed the thought of a soil freely worked and yielding better 
crops. One of the original brown bread eaters of the east in- 
quired, among other things, whether those' wondrous lands bore 
good ryeV and White answered, "I don't know: wheat is good 
enough for me." The war had left the country much wasted in 
regard to its material condition, but rich in active men, and a flow 
•of emigration soon started hitherward. The only accessible place 
where good wild land could be found in tiiis State, was west of 
the Gei-man settlements on the Mohawk, and hence this patent 
was the natural point of pursuit. The Mohawk valley, with its 
navigable river and its roads, formed the only practicable line of 
approach, and thus White's settlement was the very key of the 
position. Hither they came, f.rst from Connecticut, next from 
all New England, with some irom Long Island and New Jersey, 
followed later by people of the Old World. Soon there were 
farms, houses, mills, and villages, at attractive points for a 
luindred miles westward. Later came the era of turnpike roads, 
which helped much in the teaming over a soft deep soil. The 
river was used only the more for freighting. The movement went 
on without check or slackening, and the new country became an 
•established and permanent reality. 

The Oneida Indians were a friendly people. They came often 
to see what was going on in the new settlement and to do a little 
traffic. Mr. White was always kind and wise in his intercourse 
with them, and prompt to decide and act. One of their chiefs after 
a few years' acquaintance craftily put his confidence to a hard 
test. This chief after some palaver with avowals of his great 
esteem, asked for a loan of Mr. White's baby granddaughter, pro- 
mising to bring her back in a few days and in the meantime to 
take good care of her. " Take her," said White, " I know you 
will do as you say." The mother's tears and bursting heart 
resisted in vain. The little one was picked up by the squaws, and 
soon was out of sight in the woods. There were long hours by 
day and longer by night while the child's place was empty. But 
at last the chief proudly came again, with a procession of squaws, 
bringing the child, well and happy, bound in a frame like a pap- 



16 THE WHITESTOWiV CENTENNIAL. 

poose and glittering with Indian finery and trinkets. From that 
hour Hugh White was worshiped by the OneidasJ. 

Years afterwards, when Whitesboro was an established and 
beautiful village, and the Oneidas had withdrawn from its vicinity,, 
there still was to be seen occasionally a tall, slender Indian march- 
ing down in the middle of the street, followed by his family in 
single file, he bearing no load but a long, fresh, spear shait which 
he held perpendicularly, his form erect, his step high, his air proud ^^ 
the women in blankets, bearing on their backs large packs held 
by bands across their foreheads, walking bent and paiTot-toed ;, 
the younger ones falling into the file behind. It was charming to 
look upon sucii a party on its way to the fishing grounds. But 
when the expedition had become wearisome and the fishing was 
over, and the visit to the shore had ended in drunkenness and 
begging, they slank back homeward by twilight or through 
wood ])aths, straggling and shabby. 

Until 1784, tbe greater part of the State was included in Tryon 
and Schenectady counties and the Hudson river counties, and 
Long Island and Staten Island were the exceptions. But there 
was no actual government or civil organization by towns 
anywhere west of German Flats. In that year the Legislature 
changed the name from Tryon to Montgomery county, by a 
statute passed April 2, 1784, but set up no tov/nship government. 
Thus on the first landing at the Point in Jmie, 1784, this patent 
was in liic county of Montgomery. Four years afterwards the 
necessity of a regular government for the many and fast growing 
settlements became apparent. Tiie Legislature by an act passed 
March 7, 1788, among other things, created the town of Whites- 
town in the county of Montgomery. This town was laid out on a 
magnificent scale. Its eastern boundary was a straight line cross- 
ing the river a short distance below Genesee street bridge, at a 
log house then standing there, and running thence du<^ north to 
the Kiver St. Lawrence, and also due south to a small stream 
near Pennsylvania and down that stream to the Pennsylvania line. 
All parts of the State lying west of that line were constituted the 
town of Whitestown. It contained more then twelve million acres 
of land, navigable head waters of the Mohawk, the Delaware, the 
Susquelianna and the Ohio, the salt springs of Onondaga, the 
chain of little lakes and Oswego river, the entire valley of the 
Genesee with its upper and lower falls, and also the grand 
cataract of Niagara. Its frontage on great lakes and rivers was 
not short of lour hundred miles in lentrlh. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES TRACY. 17 

The raap now ehown is the ordinary map of the State published 
the present year, 1884. Red ink has been added to show the 
bounds of the town in 1788. It goes now into the collection of 
the Oneida Historical Society. Within the original limits of 
Whitestown thyre are now a dozen cities, our own Utica being 
the eldest and by far the most handsome and attractive; and 
half as many collefjes. our own Hamilton being first and leader; 
iind more tlian a million of inhabitants and untold wealth. 

The original town did not long retaiii its vast dimensions. In 
1789 a slice was cut otf at the west end to make the county of 
Ontario. In 1 792 the towns of Steuben, Westmoreland, Paris, 
Mexico and Peru were set off; but the autonomy of Whitestown, 
with its town meeting, justices, clerk and elections, never ceased. 
I^tica was set oif in 1817, and New Hartlord in 1827. The residue 
remains nearly as it was in 180G, when Peleg Gilford made his 
survey and published his raap. 

In 1791 Herkimer county was created. It included nearly the 
Avhole of Montgomery county west of Little Falls, and VA-'hites- 
towii was its county seat, in which the first court was held. Ten 
years afterwards Oneida county was created, taking in the greater 
])art of Herkimer county. In this instance the name for the new 
county was determined by a little gatliering held here. It was a 
Whitesboro man wdio proj)Osed to depart from the usual custom 
and take the name of the Indian tribe, the original people of the 
region still dwelling around the New England settlements; and 
thus cxme the smooth and graceful style of Oneida county. This 
^ood example was followed in other cases. 

Hugh White, the pioneer, was not a seeker of public position. 
He once was appointed justice of the peace; and alterwards the 
governor appointed him one of the judges of the county, and he 
serv^ed several years as such judge, with approbation and honor. 
Age at length inclined him to retirement and quiet. 

The last summons found him at his post. On the 16th day of 
April, 1812, while those three maple trees were putting forth their 
buds foi- the season. Judge White, on his own domain, peacefully 
yielded up his breath, in the eightieth year of his age. His, 
venerated widow seventeen years afterwards, at the same season, 
passed away in the eighty-seventh year of her age. 

This village early took the nam? of Whitesboro. Its broad 
avenue was made by voluntary cessions, enlarging the width 
beyond the original four rods of a country road to a full one 
hundred feet, and was early planted with shade trees on each side. 



18 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

The first church was reared by "The United Society of Whites- 
town and Utica," on the site of the present brick church. 
Although it was a wooden building-, it was well designed by a 
competent amateur architect, divided by columns into nave and 
aisles, with Roman arches, tall windows, a pulpit with sounding 
board above, a music loft, a graceful belfry and a bright tinned 
steeple. The carpenter may have failed in some details, but the 
result was comely, and for a long period it was an attractive 
structure. A sweet bell, added in due time, was rung at six 
o'clock to arouse the sleepers, at noon it called to dinner, and at 
nine in the evening its tongue spoke to all visiting beaux a hint 
for parting. The organization was Presbyterian — the settlers thu* 
taking a departure from the Congregationalism of their ancestors. 

Som^, perhaps many, who in youth heard the gospel in the old 
church, but afterwards felt the spell of worship in grand cathe- 
drals, still held that handsome wooden church in pleasant memo- 
ries, and sighed when they learned that it was gone. 

The Baptists early had a church, and a strong following and 
influence for good. 

The minister and the schoolmaster early appeared, and exercised 
benign influences. Yet there came a need for court house and 
jail. The former displayed the union flag while the court was in 
session, and the sheriff", wearing a cocked hat and girt with a 
sword, followed by constables holding aloft their long black rods^ 
marshaled judges, jurors and counsel as they went in procession 
from their quarters to the temple of justice. 

Nor were the lawyers idle. This town furnished to the Court of 
Errors in 1805, the first chancery case in the State on rights in a 
stream of water, as aflTected by occupation and by unwritten 
agreements between the proprietors of adjacent lands. In 1809' 
this village gave the Supreme Court its first case in the law of 
escapes. The jail liberties here, which were free to imprisoned 
debtors, were so established that a certain sidewalk was within 
the liberties, but a certain roadway was not. A prisoner, strolling 
on a winter day, found this sidewalk encumbered with a snow 
drift, and he stepped out into the roadway and walked there a few 
rods ; and the sheriff" being sued for this as an escape, was con- 
demned to pay the creditor the whole amount of the judgment,, 
being over $5,000. Each of these cases was argued ably by 
Whitestown counsel, was considered by the courts -with care and 
fully reported. Many authorities were cited, but all were from 
English authors, or decisions of English courts. Not a New York 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES TRACY. 19 

nor xlmerican ease or authority was referred to; and probably 
because there was none in existence, touching such questions. 

This village early had its weekly newspaper, and was a place of 
DQUch traffic. But the Utica settlement having advantages in 
position, in that the high ground there reached to the shore of the 
river and always gave a dry landing place, finally outgrew 
Whitesboro; and yet for a long time this spot was not without its 
merchants who sold both at wholesale and retail, and made ship- 
ments to New York of potash, otter skins, beaver skins, and other 
products of the country. 

When the time came for emigration to regions west of this 
State, the best and almost the only line of travel was by the valley 
of the Mohawk and through Whitestown. Then could be seen 
passing along this street the emigrant wagon, covered wittf a high 
canopy of sail-cloth, carrying wile and little ones, and furniture and 
food for the journey ; the father and boys following behind and 
driving a few cows and sheep ; all slowly making their way, the 
canvas marked in large capitals " Ohio." In later years the label 
was " Indiana." This was a frequent and interesting sight, and it 
is still repeated on some of the plains of the far west, near the 
Rocky mountains, where the white and spectral canvas, seen from 
afar, is called " the ship of the prairie." 

Things have changed here ; but still the best line for passing 
from the eastern coast of the United States to the western world 
must be through the valley of the Mohawk, and the plains of old 
Whitestown, which line divides the Allegany range as does no 
other between Vermont and Florida. (See note B.) 

Among the neighbors of Hugh White were many who had 
served in the Revolutionary war, and some who bore arms in 
the earlier war between the English and the French. One, at 
least, was a soldier in a Connecticut regiment of volunteers and 
fought at Louisburg in 1745, — an extraordinary battle, where the 
New England troops landed at the shore without artillery, and 
attacked and carried a strong fort, well supplied with cannon and 
fully garrisoned ; and thei-e was one who helped in the same 
French wars to make the "Mud bow." Coming up the Mohawk 
in boats, and finding near Sadequada point a long curve in the 
river which swept around and made a circle, they stopped an hour 
or two and dug with their oars across the little neck and let the 
river tear through the soft earth and make a new channel. Their 
intention was thus to shorten their voyage a whole mile, for their 
convenience in case of being driven back by the enemy. This 



^0 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

mile of water was soon separated from the river by the deposits 
of the stream, and it remained a curved pool with the name of the 
Mud Bow. 

An early emigrant long afterwards narrated how he first arrived 
here. It was in 1789, and the day of company training; and on 
this green, where the stumps were then burnings Hugh White was 
<lrilling about 27 men simply uniformed and bearing muskets, and 
his son Daniel C. White, was drilling 17 riflemen, who wore hunt- 
ing shirts made of tow cloth with a ravelled fringe. 

Long afterwards, when an emergency of the war of 1812 re- 
quired tne whole mass of the militia of this region to proceed to 
the northern frontier, they went forth under a Whitestown general, 
the strongest company being from this town and mustering nearly 
150 mcH. The campaign was a weary one. There were long 
marches in the mud, leaky shelter in camp under constant rains, 
and not much fighting to be done. The bayonets always think. 
When the men concluded that they had served long enough, and 
had done their duty, and it would be of no use to stay any longer, 
there began a dispersion, some going home singly', and then some 
in small parties, and in one case a captain deliberately marching 
off his company in a body. The battalions were dej)leted ; but the 
Whitestown company held on and finally constituted a majority 
of the regiment to which it belonged. 

The war being ended, the court martial began to deal with the 
alleged, c^eserters, and lor some fifteen months went on with trials, 
when it Avas suddenly discovered that there was a fatal defect in 
the constitution or organization of the tribunal, and the court, not 
having yet pronounced any judgment, gracefulh* dissolved, and 
no officer or man was condemned. 

Years after, on a general training day of the 134th regiment 
held here, at the noon resting time, there was a debate as to the 
chances of a shower in the afternoon, when some one asked the 
oracular major for his opinion on that point. Without looking at 
the clouds he promptly responded with ringing voice: "It never 
rains anything but blessings on the old hundred and thirty-fourth." 

Some are here now wlio remember a day during the war of 
1812, when a large body of British troops in red coats were 
marched as jirisoners through this street, on the way to the sea- 
board for exchange; and also the illumination at the peace of 
1815, when the windows of the village glared with lighted candles. 

The rule of the road, '"Turn out to the right,'*' is as firmly fixed 
in the popular mind as if it came down with the old common law. 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHAKLES TEACY. 21 

But the regulation in England was, and is, to turn out to the left. 
In this State there was no old or established law or custom in that 
regard. The roads were generally narrow and bad, and the be- 
havior of drivers depended mainly on their characters. When the 
roads along the Mohawk and to the west became much used the 
trouble of meeting and passing became serious. There arose 
debates and fights between teamsters. The highway became both 
a necessity and a terror. Thereupon the legislature in 1801, recog- 
nizing that the loads going towards tide water usually were far 
the heaviest, passed a statute requiring that on the roads leading 
from Schenectady up the Mohawk and on to Canandaigua, all 
teams going west should give tlie road to teams going east. This 
worked some good, but after a little practice, any teamster who 
was tugging w^est with a full lading of imported goods, found it 
not easy to see the propriety of yielding the whole road wiien he 
met a wagon beariiig only man, wife and baby, or an empty ox 
cart. Hence arose collisions, law suits and lasting quarrels. At 
length the legislature interposed again, and by a general law, 
passed in 1813, required that on all public roads in every part of 
the State, when teams met, " each must seasonably turn to the right 
of the center of the road." Such is the law now, and this sensible 
rule has spread thi-ough the United States. In this instance, the 
law^was actually founded on reason. 

In 1802 a clergyman from New England, traveling in this 
region, sent home his journal. He speaks of passing through this 
place, and adds : " It would appear to you, my friend, on hearing 
the relation of events in the western country, that the whole was 
a fable, and if you were placed in Whitestown," * * * "and 
saw the progress of improvement, you would believe it enchanted 
ground." He also wrote : " The original Whitestown appears to 
be the garden of the world." He also sent home a map of this 
village, made by himself, on which some buildings now standing 
may be recognized. 

A distinguished emigrant from Long Island, who settled some 
distance hence, used to say that if ever there was a garden of Eden, 
it must have been here. 

This name of Whitestown clung to the whole region from here 
to Lake Erie and Ontario for a long time. As late as 1827 a cele- 
brated lecturer on geography used to say that the eastern and 
southern parts of New York, like his own New England, had a 
poor soil, except in a few valleys, but that when you came to " the 
Whitestown country," there was a vast area of greatest fertility. 



22 - THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

In eight of the beautiful farms now around us, it is best not to 
forget the time when the great stumps of the forest held out and 
were a tiresome disfigurement of the landscape, and it was a rare 
and pleasing thing to look on a ten acre lot which was perfectly- 
free of them. 

They who first broke the forest here were not paupers, but for 
the most part were men of small means, large courage, industry 
and hope. The story of many was briefly hinted by one of their 
natural orators, in the westerly parts of Oneida county, on his 
addressing a jury of his neighbors, and appealing for their confi- 
dence. His defense was opened thus: "Gentlemen of the jury. 
Twenty-five years ago I came across Fish creek with my axe on my 
shoulder and forty dollars in my pocket, and went to work in the 
woods. I have grown with your growth and strengthened with 
your strength. Now how is it? You know my house and my 
farm and my stock, and you don't know a man to whom I owe a 
dollar. I am one of yourselves, and can have no object in de- 
ceiving you ; and I swear to you, gentlemen, that my client here, 
Jeemes Smith, is an honest man ; and an honest man is the noblest 
woi-k of God." 

Pioneer life did have its hardships, and many a toiling man and 
woman came to tlie bent figure and trembling hand of old age 
before passing threescore years. But their children, born and 
bred on the spot, were erect and robust. 

There were times when meat was lacking. Once, after such a 
period of want, there came immense numbers of wild pigeons, 
furnishing botli abundance and luxury for several weeks. It was 
then deemed prudent to preserve pigeons' breasts by packing them 
in salt, in view to another scarcity. This was done, and when the 
famine of meat came again, the stock of cured provisions was 
l)roached ; but it was found that the salt had struck in quite too 
well ; and one who messed with Judge White in those days, after- 
wards said that in spite of soaking and extra boiling, the article 
was much more salt than pigeon. 

This village on the other hand gave to the country the most 
beautiful, fragrant and delicious of fall pippins; the widely known 
Lowell apple. The original seedling tree stood for some seventy 
years in a garden at this village, and bore fruit in its old age. Its 
stump remains in situ under a beautiful green house, its fitting 
shelter and monument. The river also contributed an occasional 
luxury, yielding to fisherman the Mohawk pike, celebrated for its 
delicious quality. 



addrp:ss of iion. chakles tkacy. 23 

Amono' the peoj^le here from the first there never was a time 
when Yale and Harvard were not represented, and evei-y genera- 
tion has furnished its full quota of professional men as well as 
farmers, merchants, mecbanics, engineers, manufacturers and 
bankers. DeWitt Clinton, in his " Letters of Hibornicus," said 
of one of the early settlers from the old world, that he was " the 
most learned man in Amei'ica." 

In this connection let it not be forgotten that a part of Whites- 
town, now in New Hartford, was owned jointly by George Wash- 
ington and George Clinton. One of the deeds, on the sale of 
part of that property, signed by them both, and acknowledo-ed 
before James Kent in 1796, is preserved in the collections of the 
New York Historical Society. 

It is not the purpose of this discourse to display the names of 
those wlio have hel 1 public position and won renown by genius or 
attainments. This has been done well by others, and can be done 
again, for the theme is not hiilf exhausted. The transformation of 
the Whitestown country of 1784 into that of 1884 has been 
wrought mainly by toil and labor. The forest trees fell before the 
blows of axes wielded by hard hands. The roads were made, the 
houses, barns and fences were built, and the fruit trees were 
planted mostly by a host of plain men, abounding in strength and 
will. It was a long w^ork and more than one generation shared it. 
The result is a vast cultivated region full of life's comforts, possess- 
ing all the material requirements tor education, religion, society, 
refinement and happiness. Without now listing the fortunate few 
who received the decorations of distinction, it is fair to think 
deeply of the rank and file who did the work of these hundred 
years, and standing near the dust of these true toilers, to feel that 
the world was not made for Caesar. 

It seems not long ago when the Union demanded soldiers, and 
young men of this region with rifle in hand followed the flag 
through march and battle, not loving their lives, even unto death, for 
the good cause. It was a proud day for the sons of Oneida 
county, when in 18G1 its first quota of volunteers passed through 
the city of New York, and bearing a flag there presented 
to them by emigrants from this county, marched to the 
front ; and it was a sad but yet proud day when the fourteenth 
regiment passed the same place again on its return from many 
battles, bearing the same flag, the ranks thinned by losses, but 
covered with honor. 

The dead of that mortal struggle for national existence, popular 
government and liberty, piously brought home and laid in the 



24 THE WHITESTOWN CENTEl^fNIAL. 

earth by the side of their fathers, gave to every bm-ying ground 
in the land a new and holy conseci-ation. 

There is no prophet now who can lift np his voice and tell what 
will be here when another century has passed and we all have 
turned to dust: no seer whose eyes can pierce through the long 
vista and descry the scenes beyond. 

May the Mighty and Loving Father who made this land of 
fertility and abundance, and in the fullness of time called our pro- 
genitors into its possession, abide with their descendants and. 
successors to all generations. 

^ s . 

Note A. — The appropriate inscription placed on Judge White's monument 
about sixty years ago was drawn up by a young man. In bis draft tbere was a 
glowing passage about " making tbe desert to blossom as the rose," but his 
senior, who had been here from the early days', struck out that passage as 
smacking of fiction, and remarked, "the Judge would not allow so much as 
a rosebush about his liouse." The three sugar maple trees were the only 
exception to the destruction he waged upon all wild growth of tree or bush. 
Nor was this strange. The necessary fight against forest and thicket inspired 
a hostile sentiment which made it a joy to wield the axe against tlie common 
enemy. Those who tried to save here and there a grand old tree, for its 
beauty or its viseful shadow, usually were disappointed. The shallow roots 
of a tree full grown in the dense woods proved insufficient to sustain it when 
standing alone, deprived of the clinging net work of forest roots, and ex- 
j)osed to the winds which swept across the open clearing. Young trees, left 
or planted in open fields, and there passing their youth, adapted themselves 
to circumstances, and with grapplings deeper sunk in the earth and forms 
less lofty and more robust, braved the storm and flourished. Much of the 
ornamentation of the country was due to rude and unsightly fences, in the 
corners of which a j'oung tree might escape the plow and the scythe, and on 
many an old farm we now can trace b}' a few surviving trees the line of a 
former log or worm fence, which rotted away long ago, leaving no trace, and 
better farming gave it no successor, but abandoned the line and united the 
fields. The landscape is thus beautified by chance, and its beauty not onlj' 
excites the pride of owners, but improves the taste of the people. 

Note B. — The Alleganies form a continuous mountain chain, bovmding on 
the west the whole Atlantic slope, except the one opening through by the Hud- 
son and the Mohawk. The valleys of these two streams form a notch or clove 
reaching from the ocean level to the western slope, always affording a con- 
tinuous water passage, the usefulness of which led to the great enterprise of 
building the Erie Canal. Everywhere else the valleys of rivers, when fol- 
lowed up, were found to end beneath high mountain land. All plans and 
efiforts for canalling through to the west, by the river lines of Pennsylvania 
and of Virginia, and furtlier south, totally failed. Nature had given to 
New York alone the power to open the west. In later days the railroads 
have climbed over or pierced through the high divide ; but the line of the 
Hudson and the Mohav/k must forever be easier of grade and more available 
than any other for railroad operations. 




JiiAjAi 




COHOES, N. V. 



GENEALOGY OF THE WHITE FAMILY. 



BY WILLIAM M. WHITE. 



Chairman Campbell then introduced William M. White, who 
read a carefully prepared Genealogy of the White family. In 
introducing it he said : 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

As the son of Hugh White I lost my inheritance, my birthright, 
before I was of sufficient age to enter my protest and know my 
loss. My name should have been Hugh, and then genealogy 
would record six Hugh Whites in America, each the sou of Hugh, 
but the first, beginning with 1691 and continuing nearly 200 
years. 

The family trace their descent from Elder John White, one of 
the first settlers of Cambridge, in Massachusetts, of Hartford, in 
Connecticut, and of Hadley, in Massachusetts. 

These facts conclusively show that the spirit of the pioneer was 
strongly developed in the father of the family in America. From 
his connection with Reverend Thomas Hooker and his church, it is 
supposed that he was born in Chelmsford, the county seat of 
Essex county, England, about the year 1595. Our first certain 
knowledge is that he was a passenger, with Mary, his wife, and 
two children, on the ship Lyon, Captain Pierce, which sailed from 
England about the 25th of June, 1632, and an-ived in Boston on 
Sunday, the 16th day of September, 1632. 

Mr. Hooker's company or congregation had had assigned to 
them for settlement by the general court of Massachusetts the 
town of Cambridge, then called Newtown. Elder John White's 
"home lot" was on the street called "Cow Yard Row," not far 
from where Gore Hall, the beautiful library building of Harvard 
University now stands. His social standing, or position, or 
condition of life — it is fair to infer — was of the middle class, 
neither rich nor poor ; and that his home life in England had 
been of reasonable comfort, and that he had not been driven to 
expatriation by necessity or want. The English people have been 
likened to their own beer: the top all froth, the bottom dregs, 



26 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

the middle pure. Jolin White was admitted a freeman of 
Massachusetts, March 4, 1633, and in February, 1635, the town of 
Cambridge elected a board of seven men "to do the whole business 
of the town." John White was one of the number chosen. In 
1636, he sold "his betterments," and accompanying his pastor, 
Rev. Mr. Hooker, with about one hundred others, took departure 
for "the new towne" on the Quin-e-tac-quet river (Connecticut.) 
In the records of Hartford, John White appears as one of the 
original proprietors, and he was one of the " selectmen " of the 
town. On the death of Rev. Mr. Hooker, in 1647, a schism arose 
which seems to have been of a personal character. It resulted in 
a new departure under Elder Goodwin; and sixty persons from 
Hartford and Wethersfield went up the Connecticut river, and 
laid the foundations of Hadley, in Massachusetts. John White 
was of the party. He remained there eleven years, when he 
returned to Hartford and was chosen to tlie office of elder in the 
South Church. His life was prolonged to a good old age, and he 
died early in 1684, just two hundred years ago. He had four 
sons and two daughters. 

Second Generation. 

His oldest son. Captain Nathaniel White, was born in England 
about 1629. At the age of 21, he removed to Middletown with 
his father, and was one of the first settlers and proprietors. He 
acquired great influence and was a leading man in the colony. 
He was a member of the legislatdre or general court, and for 
fifty years in succession was annually chosen deputy from that 
town. Very few instances exist m so long an official life, 
dependent on annual popular election. In military life he rose 
through the successive grades to the rank of Captain, by which 
title he has been known to his posterity. He died August 11, 
1711, at the age of 82 years, and the record is: "He was a man of 
high religious character and sound judgment." By his will he 
left one-quarter of his undivided lands "to remain for the use of 
the public school already agreed upon by the town of Middletown," 
forever," perhaps the first legacy to the public school system in 
America. He had five sons and three daughters. 

Third Geneeaiion. 

Ensign Daniel White was the third son of Captain Nathaniel, 
and was born at Middletown upper houses, February 23, 1661. 



ADDRESS OF WILLIAM M. WHITE. 27 

He lived iu his native town, held various town offices, and died 
December 18, 1739. He had eight sons and three daughters. 

Fourth Generation. 

• 

Hugh White was the fifth son of Ensign Daniel, and the father 
of the pioneer of western New York. He was born February 15, 
1691. He always lived in Middlotown, and was a man of 
substance and respectability. His wife was Mary Stone, of 
Guilford. They had three sons and four daughters. 

Fifth Generation. 

Hon. Hugh White, as he is designated iu the records of the 
family, was the youngest son of Hugh White, and was born 
in Middletown, Connecticut, January 25, T733. He " settled" in 
Middletown, and married Mary Clark of the same town. All of 
his children were born there. His wife died in 1774. He after- 
wards married Mrs. Lois Davenport, widow of Rev. Ebenezer 
Davenport. She joined him early in 1785, in the settlement of 
Whitestown, and died there in 1829. When a resident of Middle- 
town, Hugh White was a "selectman" from 1779 to 1783. He 
was a commissary in the army during a part of the Revolutionary 
war, and soon after the close of the war he joined in the purchase 
of Sadaqueda Patent with Zephaniah Piatt, Ezra L'Hommedieu 
and Melancthon Smith. Early in the spring of 1784, he started, 
with most of his family, for their new home, in what was to be 
known as " the Whitestown country." They arrived here one 
hundred years ago to-day, June 5, 1784. He divided his purchase 
of about 1,500 acres among his sons and his daughters, and he 
lived like a patriarch of old, surrounded by his children and his 
grandchildren. He had five sons and three daughters, who ac- 
companied him, or joined liim in settling this town. And yet, 
to-day, there is not in the town of Whitestown, nor yet in the 
county of Oneida, a male resident of his name and lineage. And 
so it comes to pass that you, to-day, are celebrating, not the 
arrival of a family now with yoii, and of you, but are commemora- 
ting the first settlement of western New York, which happened 
to be made by Hugh White (my ancestor.) You are celebrating 
the founding of the first colony, outside of New England, by the 
Puritans, the first swarm of the Puritan hive. And these bowlders 
of New England granite are to be, for all time, witnesses of the 
first settlement of Whitestown by Hugh White and family of 



28 THE WHITESTOWlSr CElSTTENISriAL. 

Middletown, Connecticut, and in the annals of the future may be 
looked upon as the second Plymouth Rock. 

Of Hugh White, as a man, a Christian, and a citizen, no better 
conception can be had, than from the inscription on his tablet in 
your own cemetery on the hill. It reads: 

HERE SLEEP THE MORTAL REMAINS 
OF 

HUGH WHITE. 

WHO WAS BORN 5tH FEBRUARY, 173li, AT MIDDLETOWN, IN 

CONNECTICUT, AND DIED APRIL IGtII, 1812. 

IN THE YEAR 1784, HE REMOVED TO SEDAUQUATE, NOW 

WHITE8BOROUGH, WHERE HE WAS THE FIRSt WHITE INHABITANT IN THE 

STATE OF NEW YORK, WEST OF THE GERMAN SETTLEMENTS 

ON THE MOHAWK. 

HE WAS DISTINGUISHED FOR ENERGY, AND DECISION 

OP CHARACTER, AND MAY BE JUSTLY REGARDED AS A PATRIARCH, 

WHO LED THE CHILDREN OF NEW ENGLAND 

INTO THE WILDERNESS. 

AS A MAGISTRATE, A CITIZEN AND A MAN, HIS 

CHARACTER FOR TRUTH AND INTEGRITY WAS PROVERBIAL. 

THIS HUMBLE MONUMENT OF VENERATION FOR HIS 

MEMORY IS REARED AND INSCRIBED BY THE 

AFEECTIONATE PARTNER OP HIS JOYS AND HIS SORROWS, 

MAY 15th, 1826. 

Let me add in simple justice to this noble woman who shared 
in the labors, trials and hardships, equally with her husband, the 
monumental tribute to her worth: 

IN MEMORY OF 

LOIS, 

WIDOW OF THE LATE JUDGE WHITE 

WITH WHOM SHE EMIGRATED TO THIS PLACE THEN 

A WILDERNESS, A. D. 1785. 

SHE EXHIBITED IN HER CHARACTER A RARE UNION OP THE 

NOBLEST ATTRIBUTES OP HUMANITY WITH THE EXCELLENCIES 

OP THE DISCIPLES OP THE LAMB. 

EARLY IN LIFE SHE BECAME A PROFESSED 

FOLLOWER OF THE CROSS, AND DURING HER PILGRIMAGE BELOW,^ 

BY AN HUMBLE WALK WITH GOD ADORNED THE DOCTRINES 

OF HER SAVIOUR. 

SHE ENTERED INTO REST 

APRIL 13th, 1829. 

^T. 86 YEARS. 

PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OP THE LORD IS THE 

DEATH OP HIS SAINTS. 



ADDEESS OF WILLIAM M. WHITE. 29 

The peculiarity of the settlement of Whitestowu was that it 
was settled by one family, and all the members of that family 
joined in the enterprise. The family, aside from Judge White 
and his wife were : 

Daniel Clark White and his wife and child, Joseph White and 
his wife and child, Hugh White, Jr., Ansel White, Philo White, 
Aurelia (Wetmore,) Mary Stone (Young) ; these (witli the excep- 
tion of Rachel, the oldest of the family, who was born in 1757, and 
married John Allen long before the exodus,) constituted the 
family of Hugh White. 

The next year arrived Amos Wetmore and Lemuel Leaven- 
worth, and possibly Nathaniel Loomis and Roswell Goodrich. So 
that it was literally a settlement "by Hugh White and family." 

The energies of the pioneers seem to have been given to making 
homes in the wilderness, and caring for their families ; providing 
food and raiment and clearing the land for agricultural use. The 
intense physical exertion necessary left little time for culture, and 
there were no broad, smooth avenues to knowledge for the 
children as you have them now. Books were a" rarity, news- 
papers were unknown, and the Bible and the preacher the only 
sources of mental food. So it happened, that while the father, on 
the formation of the county, became a judge, the sons followed 
the vocation, made necessary by the enteprise, and contented 
themselves with filling the position of the American farmer. 
Owning the land, and tilling the soil, "making the wilderness to 
blossom as a rose " and laying the foundation of that productive- 
ness and industi'y, that thrift and prosperity which charm and 
astonish the stranger, and make this new world, the attraction to 
all people, the Mecca, of the civilized world. 

Of their descendants, a few may be mentioned as men of mark in 
their day and generation. 

Seventh Generation. 

Hon. Fortune Clark White, LL. D., son of Colonel Daniel 
Clark, was born in Whitestown, July 10, 1787. He studied law 
in Judge Piatt's office and became first judge of Oneida County 
about 1837. He was a brigadier general of the State militia, and 
twice a member of the legislature. He died at Whitestown, 
August 27, 1866. He had five sons and two daughters. 

Hon. Philo White, LL. D., son of Philo, was born in Whites- 
town, June 23, 1796. He graduated in a printing office in Utica, 
removed to North Carolina and became an editor, and finally 



30 THE WHITESTOW]!i CENTE^S^NIAL. 

State printer. He removed to Wisconsin while it was yet a 
territory ; was a member of the legisUiture ; United States Consul 
to the Hanseatic league, and Minister resident to Ecuador, South 
America. He returned to Whitestown in 1859, and died there 
February 15, 1883. 

Canvass Wiiite, son of Hugh, Jr., was born in Whitestown, 
September 8, 1790. His early life was spent on the farm. At the 
age of seventeen he was a clerk in the store of Colonel Carpenter. 
In the Spring of 1811, he went as supercargo on a voyage to 
Archangel in Russia. In 1814, he was a lieutenant in the 
regiment of Colonel Dodge, in the company of Captain B. F. Knop, 
and was on the Niagara frontier, at the sortie of Fort Erie. He 
was one of the engineers on the Erie canal under Benjamin 
Wright, and subsequently rose to great eminence in his profes- 
sion. He was engaged on the Union, Lehigh and on the Delaware 
and Ruritan canals; built the Delaware breakwater. But 
faiHng health cut short his career, and he died, December 18, 
1834, at the age of 44 years. As an indication of his ability, 
capacity and standing, it is related that Henry Clay said to a 
gentleman seeking an engineer for the construction of the 
Chesapeake and Ohio canal, " Get Canvass White. No man 
is more competent, no man more capable, and while your faith 
in his ability and fidelity increases, your friendship will grow 
into affection." 

Hon. Hugh White, son of Hugh, junior, was born in Whites- 
town, December 25, 1798. He graduated at Hamilton college in 
1823, and fitted for the bar in the office of Colonel Charles G. 
Haines, New York city. But he soon tui*ned to business 
pursuits. In 1825, he was located in Chittenango, engaged in 
boating on the Erie canal, and in the manufacture of water lime, 
called "White's water-joroof cement," for his brother Canvass 
White, being the first made in i\merica, and afterwards at 
Rondout in Ulster County. He established and built up the 
Rosendale cement works, where he manufactured much of the 
cement used on tlie Croton aqueduct. He was also largely in- 
terested and engaged in the development of the water power at 
Cohoes, on the Mohawk. In 1844, he was chosen representative 
to Congi-ess, where he served three terms. He was then active 
with the Litchfields, D. B. St. John, Governor Hunt, John 
Stryker and others in building the Michigan Southern and 
Northern Indiana raili-oad, and carried it to a successful con- 
clusion. He married, April 10, 1828, Maria Mills Mansfield, of 



ADDRESS or willia:m m, white. 31 

Kent, Connecticut. He died at his home in Waterlord, Saratoga 
County, October 6, 1870, aged 7'2 years. They had two sons and 
five daughters, of whom one son and one daughter are living. 
His widow still occupies the homestead at Waterford. 

Colonel William C. Young, son of Mary Stone White, and John 
Young (the founder of Youngstown, Ohio,) was born at Youngs- 
town, Ohio, (then a territory,) November 25, 1799. His parents 
returned to Whitestown and occupied their "home farm" in 1802. 
He attended school, had some knowledge of Latin, geometry and 
surveying, aside from the ordinary schooling of the period. At 
sixteen years of age he was assistant surveyor of the islands of 
Lake Ontario, for the State of New Yoi-k : the next year a rod-mau 
locating the Erie canal, and participating in the ceremony of 
"ground breaking" for that work at Rome, July 4, 1817 : the next 
year, a cadet at West Point in a class of 125 members; and 
graduates No. 12 in his class in 1822. After four years given to 
array life he resigns June 30, 1S26, and engages in superintencling 
the locating and construction of railroads in New York State. 
Under John B. Jervis the Saratoga and Schenectady road is built, 
and Mr, Young originates the system of cross-sills or ties as now 
used. Then as engineer aud general manager he gives fifteen 
years to the Utica and Schenectady railroad, resigning that to be 
chief engineer and manager of the Hudson River railroad, which 
he pushed to completion and became its president. A lifetime 
given to developing the resources of his country, and one of the 
few minds that have created and developed the railroad system of 
America, Mr. Young still lives, a splendid specimen of the men of 
a previous generation. His brother, Charles Clark Yoimg, and his 
sister, Jane M, Rosevelt, widows of Rev. Washington Rosevelt, Mrs. 
Catherine Crouse, wife of John Crouse of Syracuse and daughter 
of Ansel White, and Susan Porter, yonngest daughter of Hugh 
White, jr., are all of the surviving grandchildren of the pioneer. 
Three generations cover one hundred and fifty years. 

With 1595 as the date of the birth of John White, and many of 
the seventh generation still living, we have the fact that a gener- 
tion has averaged over 41 years, and a record of 289 years is made. 
Twenty-four years ago the known descendants of John White 
were 5,074. Of these 2,850 bore the name of White, and 2,224 
bore other names. There were then 542 families of Whites, and 
458 families of which the mothers were Whites. 

Of the descendants of Judge White, bearing the name of White, 
those known to be living: are : 



32 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENISTIAL. 

Nathaniel Patten, Edgar, James Hillhouse, and Frances Amelia, 
children of Judge Fortune C. White. 

Morris Pratt, Mary, Lewis, Philo, and Charles, children of Jonas 
White. 

Ilalsey and Mary, children of Halsey White. Maria M., Robert 
Sayie, Canvass and William M., children of Charles Loomis, and 
grandchildren of Canvass. Harry, son of Lewis White. Mary 
Adelia, J^jranklin, Edgar Adelbert and Arthur Shirley, children 
of Edgar White. Nathaniel C, son of James Hillhouse, Port 
Huron, Mich., Hugh T., son of Nathaniel C, Port Huron, Mich. 

William Mansfield White and Isabel White (Niles,) children of 
Hon. Hugh, son of Hugh, junior. 

Ninth Genekation. 

Hugh, William Pierrepont, Anna Maria, Hubert Lawrence,. 
Florilla Mansfield, Mary Pierrepont, Cornelia Butler, Isabel, 
DeLancey Pierrepont, Charles Carroll and John Dolbeare, children 
of William M. AVhite and Anna M. Pierrepont. 

In regard to the date of the arrival at Whitestown, the date of 
the month, the preponderance of proof justifies us in celebrating 
it to-day-(June 5). M. M. Jones says he distinctly remembers that 
his father, the author of " The Annals of Oneida County," got the 
date of the same from Philo White, who afterwards dictated the 
record to his daughter, Julia Ann (Kennedy,) for the "Philo White 
Bible. " It is in her handwriting. The Bible was published in 
] 849, and as Philo White died April 12, 1849, the dictation must 
have been made shortly before his death. But he was born June 
25, 1767, and he has confounded the date of his birth with the date 
of the settlement. He was seventeen years old in 1784, and if 
they had arrived in Whitestown on his birthday, the coincidence 
would have been noted. 

John White sailed from England about the 25th of June, 1632. 
He died early in the year 1684; just two hundred years ago, mak- 
ing this a second centennial in the family. 

Permit me to add, speaking for the family, and the whole family, 
whether they bear the name of White or have been given in 
marriage and now bear other names, that this movement of 
the Oneida Historical Society, and this generous co-operation of 
the citizens of Oneida county to do honor to our common ancestor, 
and to mark the spot Avhere the first home was, in the wilderness of 
western New York, and the time when it was made, and to com- 



ADDRESS. OF AVILLIAM M. WHITE. S3 

raeraorate tlie actors, and their memory, has gratified our jmde: 
has warmed our hearts ; has increased our faith in humanity ; has 
strengthened our love. And we reverently thank God that our 
fathers and our mothers were of those " whom the people delighted 
to honor.'" 

Royal blood is an inheritance. Noble blood if it begets noble 
deeds is a blessing. But above all and beyond all, is the inher- 
itance of a pious, God-fearing, God-serving ancestry. 

Mr. White closed his remaks by saying : 

Mr. Chairman : With a due sense of the honor and consideration 
shown in designating me to unveil this monument to the settlement of 
Whitestown and to the first settlers, permit me to waive this honor 
and to designate that it now be done by Hugh White and William 
White Niles, whose grandfather was Hugh White, son of Huo-h 
the pioneer. 

The monument was then unveiled by Hugh White, son of the 
speaker and William White Niles, amid the cheers of the assem- 
bled multitude and approprate music by the Oriskany Cornet 
band. 

Rev. Anson J. Upson, D. D., of Auburn Theolgical Seminary, 
formerly professor of rhetoric and elocution in Hamilton College, 
was then introduced and delivered the dedicatory address, which 
was attentively listened to, and often applauded. 







THE WHITESTOWN MONIMENT, 



ADDRESS OF DEDICATIOi\. 



BY REV. ANSON J. UPSON, D. D. 



The world avill not willingly let the xames of its 
benefactors die. 

To preserve the memory of all of them is impossible, yet we 
grow impatient at the silence that creeps over their graves. We 
cling to their memory. We will not let them clie. 

You may tell me that oblivion is inevitable, and the sooner the 
inevitable is acknowledged, the sooner will the struggle for remem- 
brance be ended, but we reply that for generations at least, the 
worthiest can be made to suiVive, and so far as in us lies we will 
not permit our benefactors to be forgotten. 

The great features of nature are comparatively changeless. The 
rocks and hills around us are everlasting. We would make the 
memory of character and achievement as enduring as they. The 
soul that imparts its own character to individual life is immortal. 
We would make the memory of the character and the life as endur- 
ing as the spirit itself. 

To such a purpose — to perpetuate character and achievements 
worthy to be remembered, we dedicate this monument here and 
now. We would thus, in the words of the inscription "commemo- 
rate the first settlement of Whitestown by Hugh White and his 
family on the 5th of June, 1*784 " — one hundred years ago! 

We commemorate no military achievement. St. Leger, Bur- 
goyne and Sir Henry Clinton might indeed have prevented this settle- 
ment forever. The heroism and fortitude of the illustrious Herkimer 
made it possible. But the British armies had sailed away ; and the 
sturdy German had slept in his grave for seven years when Hugh 
White entered this township, the pioneer of a conquest as mem- 
orable and as far reaching if not as exciting as a great soldier's 
victory. 

By this monument we commemorate the achievements of a 
pioneer. He cleared the way into this, as yet, unbroken forest. 
We may justly honor him as a pioneer, for he was a leader, vigorous, 
ardent, enterprising, intrepid, energetic, devoted to his purpose, 
persevering. God might have raised up some other man to do the 



36 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

■work he did, but in the honor we pay to his memory, we recognize 
him as the agent of Providence for this beneficent purpose. And 
his was the achievement of individual enterprise. He was not 
supported by governmental authority, nor sustained by the ac- 
cumulations of wealth. He was a pioneer by the act of his own 
will. He was not driven out by oppression, as were the pilgrims 
from England, or the Germans from Palatinate. But with that 
spirit of unrest so characteristic of the genuine American, be led 
one great division of that endless procession, that ever since has 
been fulfilling the pi-ophecy of Bishop Berkeley, Avhen he said 
" Westward the course of empire takes its way." 

And by this monument we commemorate also the character and 
achievements of one who has been well named "a patriarch" — the 
head of a family. 

Hugh While came into the vast township that afterwards bore 
his name, not as a solitary adventurer, but with his family, accom- 
panied by his sons and daughters. In his fifty-second year the 
enthusiasm of youth had been tempered by the experience of 
advancing age — not altogether unlike the greatest of all the 
ancient patriarchs "the father of the faithful," he went forth into 
the wilderness. 

He brought with him his family, as an evidence of his faith. He 
came to stay. He had no other thought. He made the first set- 
tlement. As citizens of Oneida county, we honor the memory of 
James Dean, the patriotic pioneer, not altogether unlike Captain 
John Smith of Virginia. But we remember that James Dean had 
no permanent home in this county till 178G. We honor the 
memory of Samuel Kirkland, the missionary to the Oneidas and 
the founder of Hamilton College, but Kirkland lived mostly alone 
with his Indian friends until 1792. He and his family could not 
become permanent residents till after this new home in Whites- 
town had been established for eight years. 

The word " family " in this inscription is significant. It com- 
memorates the establishment of the first permanent home in the 
wilderness — father, mother, sons and daughters gathered here 
together. In that word " family " upon this monument we com- 
memorate the heroism of the mother and the children, as well as that 
of the patriarch himself. They could appreciate, perhaps better 
than he, all that Dr. Asahel Norton meant, when in the old 
meeting house at Clinton, on every Sabbath day, he used to thank 
the Lord that he had preserved the early settlers in this " howl- 
ing wilderness ! " 



ADDRESS OF REV. ANSON J. UPSON, D. D. 37 

But once more; by this monument we reconize Hugh White 
and his family as our benefactors. 

The founders of every community impress tlieir characteristics 
•upon it — characteristics that remain fixed and permanent, so long 
as the community lasts. The founders gather round them in the 
early settlement men like themselves. Generations may succeed 
each other, new comers in great numbers may bring with them 
new customs and ideas, but the characteristics of the first settlers 
will be largely controlling. Boston and Albany, Philadelphia 
and Baltimore diifer to-day as much as did their founders. 

If Hugh White and his sons had been dissolute men, how the 
picture of to-day would have been reversed ! But they were 
not dissolute men. They brought with them a New England 
morality, a New England industry, a neatness and economy, a 
Yankee thrift, an English vigor and sincerity, a New England 
intelligence and desire for education, a simplicity of manners, 
with no affinity either for the dilettanti or the coarse. Above all, 
they brought with them a reverence for God and a belief in the 
Bible. 

And naturally, the men and women who followed after — the 
Platts and the Storrs, the Golds and the Sills, the Tracy s and the 
Berrys, the Fosters, the Wetmores, your Benjamin Walcott and 
your Dexter and your John Frost and your David Ogden and 
Beriah Green — all these among the honored and revered dead, 
and many more among the living here, brought Avith them the 
same characteristics with which tbey have enriched and 
strengthened and adorned your life. 

In erecting this memorial to commemorate the first settlement 
we honor the influence of all these who have contributed to the 
honorable reputation of this town, that still retains the name of its 
founder. 

And not only so, but we commemorate the founders of that 
larger township extending from the Mohavt'k to the great lakes. 
At this point of departure, where first in this State, the influence 
of New England began to exercise its beneficent power, we erect 
this memorial. We give a cordial welcome to every other people. 
We rejoice in the remarkable commingling of races in this 
commonwealth that has made New York so cosmopobtan. But 
we remember that the iron in our blood is drawn from the New 
England hills. We erect this monument as a token to all comers, 
that so far as in us lies, the healthful influence of our New Eng- 
land ancestry shall neither be forgotten nor pass away. 



38 THE WHITESTOWJS^ CENTENNIAL. 

Let the children of the coming generations as they pass this 
monument and read this inscription be taught its significance. 
Most likely none of them can ever be~ such pioneers, such 
patriarchs, such benefactors ; yet each in his own life can practice 
the same simplicity, the same self-reliance, the same integrity, the 
same faith. 

Let this monument teach every passer-by that usefulness, 
though not always raised to high station, will not be forgotten, 
Mankind do not forget even their unconscious benefactors. If 
Hugh White could have foreseen, that when a century should 
have passed, on an occasion like this, amidst hundreds of an 
admiring posterity, his name would be repeated with respect and 
gratitude and veneration, as the great founder of what we behold 
around us, would he not have felt his heart cheered, under the 
hardships of the wilderness or amidst the perils of the savage? 

" Other men labored and we are entered into their labors." 

The great countries of the old world love to trace their long 
descent from warfare long and fierce between prond Normans and 
stui'dy Saxons, between restless barons and grasping kings — back 
even to wars between fabled heroes and demigods. 

To us it is given to honor conquests more peaceful and not less 
far-reaching. 

To the energy, fortitude, perseverance, of men like him we 
honor to-day, do we owe the glory of this land we love. They 
have left us no 'stately castles crowning our hill-tops with walls 
and moats and towers, but theirs is a fairer memorial, in the 
peaceful beauty of a scene like this — in the happy homes which 
are all about us to-day, because of the bi-avery and patient toil of 
that household in the forest here one hundred years ago. 

" The Isles of Greece, the hills of Spain, the purple Heavens of Rome, 
Yes all are glorious — yet again I bless thee, Land of Home ! 
For thine the Sabbath peace, my land! and thine the guarded hearth : 
And thine the dead, the noble band that make thee holy earth. 
Their voices meet me in thy breeze, their steps are on thy plains; 
Their names by old, majestic trees are whispered 'round thy fanes. 
Their blood is mingled with the tide of the exulting sea ; 
O ! be it still a joy and pride, to live and die for thee ! " 

Benjamin F. Taylor, of Cleveland, O., the poet of the day, was- 
next introduced, and received with applause. His poem was one 
of the most enjoyable features of the day, and was read with 
expression. It was often interrupted with laughter and hearty 
applause. 



"THE WHITESTOWN COUNTRY;' 



POEM BY BENJAMIN F. TAYLOR. 



"One Hundred Years Ago." 

" God bless us every one ! " So say we all, 

Let Hermou's dew like benediction fall ! 

Time calls a halt and here we stand and turn 

To days as dear as ashes in an urn, 

When following on the Dutchman's pale " Half Moon," 

Tlie wake of empire kindling in its light, 

A "May Flower" out of season came in sight 

And graced December with the joy of June. 

Miles Standish was aboard, whose sturdy heart 

Played the same blood that throbbed in Kirkland's own; 
So, down they come, two centuries apart. 

The mighty Captain and his ftir-olF Son, 
Old Sinai's clouds are cleft by Calvary's ray. 
Close up, grand comrades, march abreast to-day ! 

Whitestown Country. 

Upon The Whitestown Country's Northern hem 

Where breeze was song and brook a running gem, 

Wild rubies hid among the meadow grasses. 

White-throated deer drank out of looking-glasses, 

Sweet-hearted maples stood in sturdy ranks 

And packs of dogwoods hung upon their flanks, 

While elms in outline arched the graceful air 

As if an Ariel meant to chamber there ; 

And here and there the blue smokes lifted high 

As if to tint some spot of faded sky — 

Smokes filtering thro' from swallows'-nests of homes 

The leafy rafters of the forest domes. 

Where whispering twilights haunted cabin doors 

And hid the idle noon-mark on the floors. 

' Till axe and echo tilled the woods with clocks 

Sounding the death-watch for the masted fleet 
Of foundered forest that with wrecks and shocks, 



40 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

Swept swaths of wilderness as cradled wheat, 
Matched broad-cast harvest with a broad-cast day. 
So axes won the cyclone's right of way, 
And let, at last, the golden sunlight fall 
Like grand Elijah's mantle over all. 

RivEKs ANB Men. 

Its rambling rivers flow toward all the world 

From vast St. Lawrence to the Chesapeake — 
By Mohawk borne and Susquehanna whirled; 

They brave the shaggy wilderness to seek 
Ontario's wave. Blue Erie and gray main 
All one to them, these rivers free as rain. 
Dear household brooks and children of the hills, 
Ye ribbons woven from exultant rills, 
With reedy warble, cataract and song. 
Oh, rivers float your Indian names along— 
Forbid them not ' till Unadiila dies, 
On cloudy wings Chenango's waters rise, 
No wrens in woods, no blue-bird in the skies; 
Make room, Oh Babel, let their music stand, 
The sweet Ionic of the Whitestown Laud, 
'Till men forget where Skenandoa lies, 
That nobleman of God to Kirkland given. 
Who held his patent from the court of heaven. 
Ah, streams prophetic, had we only known, 

Of them who broke the strong horizons thro'. 
Bore Yankee Doodle to the dragon throne 

Where lar Cathay its Bohea breezes blew, 
Where Desolation's grisly bones Lave worn 
Thro' the lean earth stark, naked and forlorn. 
Where lie beneath pale Arctic's pennon'd spears 
Unquarried winters of a thousand years. 
Where palm leaves lap like tongues the golden air, 
And Indian Summer from the topmost stair 
To Heaven looks down, relents, and never enters there, 
Oneida's sons have rent the azure robe 
And boxed the quivering compass round the globe. 

John White's Welcome. 

Now full two hundred fifty Junes ago 
The good ship Lyon stole across the sea. 



POEM BY BENJAMIN F. TAYLOR, 41 

All sails hauled homa slia welcomed every blow 

That drove her on where faith and Heaven were free. 
Beyond the roll-call of the Babel world 
The good ship Lyon's tattered sails were furled. 
So came John White, an Elder and an oak 
No danger daunted and no tempest broke. 
Nobody knew that God's salvation went 
Beyond the border-line of Continent, 
Meant this unchristen'd wilderness, amid 
Whose glooms tlie red and smoky nations bid 
Uncounted centuries go idly by, 
Left no inore trace than eagles in the sky. 
One trail no broader that a Bible's page 
Crept in a stealthy way age after age 
From Hudson's tide to Erie's magic blue. 
And this was all, save scatter'd flints that flew 
And tomahawks with wings, and heaps of bones. 
And blacken'd brands of fires, and frightful tones 
The night-owls echoed and the night-hawks caught — 
AVas all they left that savage Nature taught, 
Except heir-looms of rare melodious names 
Bound for the future, and forever fame's. 

Yet Shakespere walked what little world he knew; 
Like holy fire crusaders' standards flew. 

All Europe looked and wondered and was grum; 
Yet Pocahontas by one act of her's 
Whose very thought the dullest bosom stirs. 

Had saved the Smiths to people Cin-istendom ; 
Spenser had led his Fairi3 Queene along, 
Herbert had sung the perfect Sabbath song 
Whose pure and plaintive accents will survive 
While one dear English word is left alive. 

Behold them there, the pilgrim of the Lyon 
And this wild realm beyond the range of Zion, 
And what Elijah's son could dream the twain 
Would e'er be bound in name and blood and brain? 
As soon believe the breeze that wakes the rose 
Of Ispahan should whirl Alaska's snows. 

Hugh White's Welcome. 

And yet, this day, one hundred years ago. 
Near where we stand there swung a rude bateau. 



42 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

Five generations clown, Hugh White had come 

To find a wilderness and found a home. 

No flag saluted but the tulip trees, 

No song of welcome but the wild-rose breeze, 

No martial music but the partridge drum 

And jay-bird fife and old Homeric thrum. 

No torchlight honors and no welcome words 

Of dear old English but the " phoebe "-bird's ; 

The tall elms built the sole triumphal arch 

That graced the landing, glorified the march 

Both God and valor brought triumphant through. 

It mattered not to him and his platoon 
Of manly sons. I wonder if he knew 
That from the basswood walls and elm-bark roof 
That neighbor'd wolves and kept the winds aloof, 

His cabin fire would lejid a light to June 
That would not perish in its hundredth year — 
This man who marched beyond the dim frontier 
And picket line. I wonder if he heard 
The primal throb when empire lived and stirred. 
I wonder if he dreamed the drowsy drone 

Of meadow bees a few poor spindles made, 
Would ever sound, two hundi*ed thousand grown, 

Like sea born winds that sweep the everglade, — 
The rattling harness of the fireside loom 
Jar like the chariots of the grander Rome, 
And weave their forty million yards, and more 

Tlian clothe the nation Patrick Henry knew, 

Give all the flags our navy ever flew 
And dress Rhode Island in a pinafore. 

One Hundred Years. 

The bell strikes " one " — The Whitestown Country Chime, 
Now put new chevrons on the sleeves of Time ! 
Stand forth, my Sergeant ! Ah, how passing grand 
When God's centurions take supreme command. 
The gypsy Junes close up along the line, 
A hundred Aprils in their snow-drops shine, 
A hundred Summers shouldering their sheaves, 
A hundred Autumns glorified with leaves, 
• In rank and file the red Octobers glow. 

And white Decembers trail their skirts of snow. 



POEM BY BENJAMIN F. TAYLOR. 43 

There is no yonder, every there is here, 

The sun stands still, the stars themselves are near, 

The jewell'd Dipper's holy dews baptize, 

The halted Age before our reverent eyes. 

Hugh White's old cradlers rock the field of wheat, 

His mowers swing the scythe in naked feet, 

And sometimes blundering on a grassy nest 

They whirl a whisk and wish •all bees "be — blest!" 

The green and golden surf around them rolls. 

They shed their jackets but they keep their souls. 

Arrayed in tow the brawny threshers come 

And eat for three and drink New England rum; 

The oaken floor their flails alternate beat, 

And kernels dance a rattling tune of sleet ; 

Now comes his sempstress — bless her smiling face ! 

In tall back-comb and Inisey gown and grace 

And not a bang — she long ago gave place 

To shapes of iron feet and cabinet-ware 

And left forlorn the bantam sewing-chair. 

Swung to a pillion on her wedding day. 

Her arm around his waist, she rode away 

And made a log-heap turn a lover's nest — 

Of all the patents earliest and best. 

Great trees that kept the treaty made with Time 

An age ago — it seems almost a crime — 

Broke the long twilight as her husband knocked, 

And sweeping headlong down to ru.in, mocked 

With crash of column, coronal and branch 

The frozen thunder 'of the avalanche. 

They trained a sunflower near the cabin door, 

They walked on sunshine round the puncheon floor. 

Brigades of corn deployed in green parade 

And rounding gold among their ranks betrayed 

A pious war, a pumpkin cannonade. 

Old fashioned flowers drew up in double line, 

The four-o'clock, the pink, the columbine. 

The flax a-field was hardly sown before 

Unhetcheled tow-heads danced upon the floor, 

Swarmed up the ladder on their way to bed, 

Swarmed down before the morning sky was red, . 

Swarmed out three miles to meeting and to school. 



44 THE WHITESTOWiN CENTENNIAL. 

Set traps for wolves and learned the Golden Rule. 
No man could doubt the Children in the Shoe, 
Ten pewter spoons and still the number grew. 
And these are they who made this wilderness 
Turn fair enough for angels to caress, 
Who set this heart of empire throbbing forth 
Its sterling manhood round tlic belted earth. 

Their fires were half Promethcini — came from Heaven, 

No sign of matches had King Pluto given, 

And yet how easy, had he only kiiown, 

To dip his tooth-picks in the Acheron ! 

They covered embers though no curfew tolled, 

They borrowed embers when their own were cold, 

They kept a box with flint and steel and punk. 

Boys had the grit and women had the spunk. 

Think of Oneida's maid, ye graceful girls to-day, 

Who cleared the door-yard of a bear at bay. 

And swept him out with just an oaken broom ! 

Salute, ye heroes, give the maiden room ! 

Think of the Whitestown Country girls that drove 

Their tandem teams where deer scarce dared to rove! 

Drove lumbering turn-outs of the classic breed 

Of dear Priscilla's puritanic steed. 

Whose Juno-eyes old Homer sang in Greece, 

And full of spirit with two horns apiece. 

Thk Old Kitchex. 

Reverse the lever of the world fo-day 

And bid the flying Age dismount and walk ; 
Before the lightnings left their garret play 

To cheer a kitchen and to learii to talk ; 

Before with slender shafts they pumped the rock 
And flashed the torches on the startled air; 
Before they fished Ibi- flame and iound it where 
The blundering Jonah found an oil depot — 

Now light the candles with a glowing coal. 
No other gleam like theirs in all the world to show 

The " living room," the homestead's genial soiil, 
That warmed their hearts one hundred years ago: 
• . Tlie iron fire-dogs, crooked legs apart. 

Knee-deep in rubies from the maple's heart. 



POEM BY BENJAMIN Y. TAYLOK. 

A bowl of apples flushing by the tire, 

A russet boy that heaps the cord-wood higher, 

Festoons of apples swing along the line. 

The grumbling clock betrays the hour of nine, 

—Pass round, my girl, the orchard's amber wine ! — 

A full grown clock stands sentry over all, 

Upon its solemn shape the firelights fall, 

A tall, slim coffin, whence with face serene 

And sadly sallow, Time regards the scene 

Between his bloodless fingers, long and lean ; 

With muffled pulse, a shrill and tolling bell, 

'Tis all the same, a bridal or a knell ; 

A bellows' foxy nose, a turkey's wing. 

White cotton curtains on an apron-string, 

The hammered tongs with poor magnetic legs, 

A rusty scabbard swung from wooden pegs. 

The starving crane with Ethiopian arm 

Holds out its hooks with pot-and-kettle charm, 

Their nervous covers playing tambourine 

To serenade the golden samp within ; 

The Prussian-blue pagoda-painted wares. 

The pewter platters and the kitchen chairs 

Whose woven seats once waved in summer airs 

Where rushes drew their sabers to salute. 

And bright Bob-Lincolns swung with bell and flute; 

There dwelt of old, apart from pomp and pride. 

The living circles that have never died 

But live as rainbows live, that fade away 

In broader glory and a brighter day. 

The Eaely Day. 

Five miles to meeting, forty miles to mill. 

They backed the grists and traveled with a will; 

By bridle path and trail and bark canoe 

Dim as the twilight, noiseless as the dew ; 

Then back they came, the bright day turning brown, 

And met the swarthy Mohawk coming down, 

The forests roaring like the surf of seas. 

The starlight tangled in the tops of trees. 

Two fox fire eyes betray the whiskered cat, 

A flying blot— Saint Crispin's bird, the bat, 

The tossing fire-fly's mockery of lamp, 



45 



i46 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

And thought of home and Johnnycake and samp. 
A royal breed of tramps the fathers made, 
We knight them now with loving accolade ! 
Right-handed men whichever hand you shook, 
Square-stepping men whatever way they took. 
Stout-hearted men whatever might betide, 
For duty ready 'till the day they died. 
Truth-loving men, their lettered tablets bore 
The first grave charge that ever mortal made, 
" Here lies," the marbles say, but might have said, 
" Here lies " the man who never lied before ! 

Then and Now. 

When Fdxton drove his shining six-in-hand 

Of dappled grays along the Whitestown way 
With La Fayette the guest of all the land, 

He never dreamed the world would hail the day 
And drive the lightnings with a single line. 
Abolish time and space and everything 
But death, put all the planet in a wedding-ring. 
While East and West the concert tidings shine. 
When Parker's coach by swamp and corduroy 

That made its one score miles since early morn, 
Came lurching in amid the general joy 

And angry treble of the driver's horn, 
And brought six foolscap letters three weeks old 
Sealed with a moon and crackling in the fold 
Like thorns and hemlock in a log-heap fire, 
What would you have? What more could man deeirei 
Did Parker think that creeping coach of his 
Might be a kind of drowsy chrysalis, 
That taking wing and clouding up with power 
Would make his day's long pull in half an hour? 
Shoulder its wake as if it meant to fly. 
And leave its smoky track along the sky ? 

The Whitestown Country Forts. 

Lo, Old Fort Schuyler in a grand disguise. 
The classic walls of " Hamilton " arise, 
The stately mother, of whose royal sons 

Six hundred manned the battlements of God. 



POEM BY BEISTJJ^MIN F. TAT LOR. 47^ 

Some bravely trained the Union's roaring guns 
And won their morning stars and went abroad. 

Some wore the ermine with unspotted fame, 

Some startled senates into loud acclaim, 

Three score turned chieftains of the Fourth Estate, 

And some unchalleng'd sit in glory's gate : 

And some lived lives of patience and of pain 

Serene and pure, but did not live in vain, 

As when still moonlight parts the leafy spray 

Along the dew-drops dawns a little day; 

For these, we know, there waits a rare renown 

And earth's acanthus turns Corinthian crown, 

I owe thee duty as my father's son, 

God make it noon until thy work is done ! 

Saint Peter kept the keys of Paradise — 

Thy Peter bids us look with mild surprise 

Upon the broods of callow worlds that blaze, 

Hatched out beneath his incubating gaze ! 

These are the strong redoubts whence Science trains 
Her dumb artillery against the skies 

Where far Auriga drives his starry wains 

And brings down worlds to brighten dying eyes. 

Tho' Stanwix guns are rusted out and dumb — 

Oneida's hives with sons and daughters hum ; 

These are the forts whose armaments command 

The dim blue range where waiting ages stand. 

Oh, strong redans, oh, garrisons of youth, 

Strike where you will, but always strike to truth. 

• 
The Old Meeting House. 

Unfold the wardrobe in the cedar chest, 
The weary week is done. The Sabbath rest 
Begins to-night and lasts all day to-morrow. 
Grant perfect peace without a dream of sorrow ! 
From Indian Summer to the ides of May 
The house of God was one long winter's day, 
With nothing warmer than an April smile 
And small square foot-stoves tinkling up the aisle. 
The Elder preached in mittens, and in cloak ; 
While clouds of frosty breath around him broke, 
He told of fire, but no one ever thought 
How blest indeed to have some embers brought. 



48 THE WHITES'J'OWN CENTENNIAL. 

Celestial love and holy zeal alone 

Kept saints alive in that intemperate zone. 

There were the men that from their hemlock tents 

Defied the devil. and the elements; 

And when their time for better liomesteads came, 

Still notliing warmer than a candle's flame 

Relieved the rigor of the chambers, where 

The nail heads silvered in the Arctic air. 

Sometimes the brazen warming pan would sweep 

The linen parallelograms oi sleep, 

Feel here and thore the frosty corners out, 

But boys and girls went bouncing to their beds, 
Their cast-off garments flying all about 

Like wdnd-blown down from dandelion lieads. 
Gone the old church and gone the reverent feet 
That made the threshold beautiful and sweet. 
And charmed the Sunday noontimes round the place 
With Christian comfort, carraway and grace. 
Across the road the fallow field of God, 

Unsown, un tilled, unmourned and overgrown 
With tangled thistle, thorn and golden rod ; 

Gone are the graves and inarticulate the stone. 

Gone is the preacher Vv'ith the braided queue, 
The velvet small clothes and the buckled shoe. 
The broad flapped coat, the continental hat, 
The broad bandanna and the broad cravat — 
Broad as " the road " of which he used to read, 
"And thousands walk together there." Indeed 
He wore the colors of the Flag all thro', 
Bandanna gave the red defiant hue, 
Cravat the white, Connecticut — the blue ! 

Ah, dead lips whispci- like a field of vvdieat, 

Old Cl)ina mourns "departing friends" once more,. 

Slow clouds the crape along the mourners' seat. 
Front-face to God and sadly borne before, 

The solemn bell slow booming overhead. 

In rigid slumber come the slirouded dead. 

TiiK Old Choir. 

The singing master's wooden pitch pipe blew 
A curlew note and all the sinsiX'rs flew. 



POEM BY BENJAMIN F. TAYLOR. 49 

Oh, fly again, sweet girls of Israel's choir 
And warble larklike up the tuneful stair. 
The fugues fled with fragments of the words. 
The meeting house was filled with singing birds 
Each with a note to make the nest complete, 
And named it Windham, Mear or Silver Street: 
Or else he "flushed" them with a two-tined fork, 
Picked up the key and grimly said, " Sing York ! " 
Old Neptune's royal trident had not then 
Done baser duty for the sons of men. 
And twotined forks "pitched" melody and meat. 
Tossed the new hay and swung the bundled vvheat. 

No girls in seraph white and heavenly blue 

So sweetly sang as if they thought it true, 

"I want to be an Angel." If they might 

Turn birds of Paradise and take their flight. 

Each pair of wings a maiden should unfurl 

Would rob the world and not improve the girl. 

No gentle souls in penitential mood ■ 

Before the congregation rose and stood. 

And sang confession, how "I love to steal," 

No alto owned it with a joyous peal, 

No tenor told in music clear and strong. 

No grumbling bass to pass the crime along. 

No fair soprano bore the guilty story 

In sky-note carol to the gates of Glory. 

In those old days no line of real girls. 

Fun in their eyes and frolic in their curls, 

Stood forth and sang " I would not live alway." 

Bless their dear hearts, we know they " care to stay. " 

They sing it all with such delightful grace 

It brings a smile to Meditation's face; 

The three-score grief is not akin to youth's, 

The words are Kachel's but the lips are Ruth's. 

Grief to the world, those crumbling wasp gray walls 

Were built too near the pure and perfect halls 

Of Paradise, the Canaan of the Blest. 

The pulpit stood, that sacred swallow's-nest, 

On border-land and boundary between 

That world and this, whence angels could be seen 

That beckoned mortals to the other side 



50 THE WHTTESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

With grace so rare tliey could not be denied, 
No other gate but Death's and so they died. 

Stanwix and Oriskany. 

Plow, press and primer, pulpit, post and pen 
Proclaimed abroad "good will and peace to men."" 
Sling up for once the axe beside the sword. 
With helve and hilt in beautiful accord, 
Halt, if you may, with talismanic word 
The pioneers who marched in Freedom's van 
One hundred years ago, and bid them, if you can, 
Look back upon the realm thro' which they "blaze'' 
Their way to glory — regiments of maize 
And high-tide gracious seas that never drown, 
W^here answered prayer for all the world is strown, 
And countless flocks of homes that climb and crown 
The vantage hills with all their towers and spires 
That loom like castles, mount like sacred fires. 
Fort Stanwix guns are dumb: no longer Death 
Grins from embrasures blackened with their breath. 
Appear, once more, immortal August day. 
Let muskets rattle, busy batteries play — 
Ye rifles blent with old Queen's arms fire true ! 
Fire low! fire fast! fire all ! 'till woods turn blue 
With bullet blasts, and the green mosses red 
W^ith such bad blood as Brants and Butlers shed — 
See there, St. Leger's scalpdocked scarlet hordes, 
Satanic bond of tomahawks and swords, 
Scalps at their belts — such peltry quoted high, 
A woman's hair ten dollars if she die! — 
Gunpowder in their rum ! — Sling ofl" the dium ! 
Beat the long roll with cannon I Let them come ! 
Run up the flag above the parapet ! 
Those Stanwix colors strangest that had yet 
Saluted, shrouded, rallied or defied. 
Grew costlier far than coronation pride : 
A soldier's shirt all scalloped into stars 

Was stitched — "fixed" stars — upon a martial cloak 
Of blue, and stripes of scarlet rags made Mars 

Blush dingy red and bless the battle smoke. 
Up with the garments ! A'aior's cast-off clothes 
Can have no endino- more sublime than those ! 



POEM BY BENJAMIN F. TAYLOR. 51' 

A sultry day, Oriskany, was thine, 

Of wild red revelry and wasted wine. 

In shivering woods the waltz of death began, 

From tree to tree the dreadful circles ran, 

'T was white to red, 't was death to man or man. 

Death lurked behind each beech and maple shaft 

Heroic soldiers took to woodman's craft. 

The bullets whistled thick as driving rain. 

The bayonets bristled like a hedge of cane, 

The forest columns dotted dense with shot 

Like bird's-eye maple when the wood is wrought. 

Amid this hell rode Herkimer, as calm 

As if he heard an old long-meter psalm — 

Rode his "White Surry" with a swinging rein, 

As if he loitered in a farm-yard lane ; 

Then tumbling headlong died the stricken steed, 

Then fell the rider like a shattered reed. 

They bore him bleeding to a fallen beech. 

But sword and soul were both within his reach, 

And there reclined he fought the battle thro ' 

"With orders cool as if he never knew 

That, every breath he drew, around him whirled 

An instant summons to the other world. 

And there he sat, and struck with arrow-head and knife 

A spark ; the tinder crinkled into life, 

And then he calmly smoked as if he heard 

The storks come home, old Holland's household bird ! 

I think this leads the Appomatox chief 

Who made Havana roll historic leaf. 

This was the Beulah Land to which men came 

Who saw on Bunker's day the Charlestown flame 

That flung its last red gleam along the seas 

When British scarlet caught the homeward breeze ; 

Those men whose garments brought the powder smoke 

Of Bennington ; whom Yorktown cannon woke ; 

Charged six abreast through Sodom's dreadful rain 

And swept like surf down Lundy's fiery Lane; 

Dared the red lion, scorched him in his lair; 

Crossed in the gloom historic Delaware. 

This is the stock express and thoroughbred 

That made the ribb'd earth tremble with its tread, 



52 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

That answered " here ! " when Freedom called the roll, 
Went through the mills of God where death took toll, 
A widow's thirds, a pension or a soul, 
And dotted all the Whitestown Country through 
Like spotted cambric with the Federal blue ! 

The Doge of Venice deemed it very grand 

To wed the Adriatic Avith a ring. 

The Whitestown Country saw a grander thing 
When spades were trumps and Clinton played the hand 
And played it tii rough though Thomases decried, 
And made the western wave Atlantic's bride. 
Along that narrow water silent went 
The Western glory of the continent ; > 
Great States passed by, like shadows one by one. 
That flaunt their sheaves against the setting sun. 

Here dwelt the man who led the roll that signed 
The Magna Charta Letter to mankind, 
Here died the last of pensioners who drew. 
Because their muskets made that Message true. 
From first to last, from wilderness to prime. 
The s|)lendid lineage runs like perfect rhyme. 
Weave them a wreath of palm and immortelle, 
Ring them a chime on Time's centennial bell, 
The Age strikes "one." God save us all. Farewell ! 



PRESENTATION OF THE MONUMENT. 



Hon, Samuel Campbell then presented the monument to the 
village of "Whitesboro, saying: 

President DunJiam: 

A pleasing duty devolves on nie that will occupy but a few 
moments of our time. We are now enjoying the fruition of our 
endeavors in making preparations for the event that brings us to- 
gether to-day. That enduring monument will stand as a witness 
to tell the story of its origin to future generations, possibly for 
centuries, I hope it will be looked upon, not only as an ornament, 
but in some measure as relatively associated with your beautiful 
village that owes its beginning to the historic name on the tablet. 
Hugh White and family left their New England homes in May, 
1784, to bi-ave the dangers and vicissitudes of frontier life. Their 
new home took the appropriate name of the Whitestown country. 
We are now reaping the fruits of their hazardous enterprise. 

I have now the honor, as chairman of the executive committee, 
with power, to transfer the care and keeping of the monument to 
the trustees of this village of which you are now the worthy 
president, and thereafter to your successors in office, which I 
trust will be cheerfully accepted. 

Rev. Dr. M. E. Dunham, president of the village, accepted the 
monument in the following words : 

ADDRICSS OF AOOEPTAIN^CE. 

BY EET. M. E, DUNHAM, D, D. 

Mr. Cliairman and Gentlemen of the Historical Committee : 

In belialf of the citizens of Whitesboro, as represented by their 
Board of Trustees, I have the honor to accept the custodianship 
of the monument which your generosity has erected, dedicated and 
this day given into our care. It is natural that we should take 
pride in protecting it from injury, as it is to us, and will be to 
coming generations, a memento of the early settlement of this, 



54 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

our beautiful village. It stands there a granite shaft, on a 
granite base, an imperishable epitome of history engraven on 
stone. We read that when the children of Israel made their 
wonderful passage through Jordan that their leader, Joshua, com- 
manded twelve men, one from each tribe, to take each man a 
stone and deposit them in a heap, that these might be a sign 
among them, so that when their children should ask : What mean 
ye by these stones? they could recount to them the history of 
their passage through Jordan, dry shod, while the turbid waters 
stood, waiting on either side, and thus perpetuate the record of 
this remarkable event. We have no record that the early settler 
of this place met with any such divine interposition on his 
journey hither — though he had two rivers to cross; but tradition 
says that he arrived here and pitched his tent on Saturday evening, 
spending the next day in the quietude of a New England Sabbath 
observance, amid the trees of the forest; and if this be true, then 
civilization entered upon the inheritance of this goodly land 
through the gateway of the Sabbath day, and thus hallowed the 
future that lay before it. And surely as it spread from this point 
westward, it went, not only to possess a land full of promise, 
but to bear the seeds of promise in itself which have borne 
wonderful fruitage in the temporal prosperity. Christian refine- 
ment and intellectual culture which rests as a crown of glory 
upon western New York to-day. You have, therefore, gentle- 
men, done an appropriate act in the erection of this granite 
monument, that when the children of coming generations 
look upon it and ask what it meaneth, there may be recounted 
to them what we have heard in the historical address to-day. 
Thus shall the events which transpired here one hundred 
years ago be kept fresh in memory and handed down through the 
coming centuries. 

We congratulate you, gentlemen, upon the successful com- 
pletion of this work you have undertakeUi In reverence for the 
past you have erected a land-mark of its history for the con- 
templation of the future. Your work has been well done. 
Coming generations will thank you for it as we thank you to-day. 
On it is recorded the name of Hugh White, the first white settler 
in this then wilderness, who led the way of civilization to this 
fertile region and gave to it the name of Whitestown. To-day 
we honor the name he bequeathed. Once it covered a broad 
extent of territory, extending to the St. Lawrence on the north, 
to the lakes on the west, and to Pennsylvania on the south — as we 



ADDRESS OF REV. M. E. DUNHAM, D. D. 55 

have been told ; but as the population increased and spread, new 
colonies sought, like new married couples, to set up for them- 
selves; and Whitestown, out of the generosity of her motherly- 
heart, gave them a goodly territory, and let them set up for them- 
selves under new names. Thus her own territory has been nar- 
rowed down into comparatively small limits. Still, gentlemen, 
she is Whitestown — proud of. her name and content with her 
territory. She has been an indulgent mother, suflering her 
children to grow up into cities, while she has remained a modest 
township with modest villages. Nor does she envy them their 
thrift and prosperity. She will be content to remain with smiling 
farms and beautiful villages — unless some day the village that 
bears her name shall be seized with ambition and shall reach out 
her arms to take in the cities on her borders. But we trust that 
time may be far distant. Better in modest content to " bear the 
ills we suffer tlian fly to those we know not of." 

By your generous act, gentlemen, we have something that will 
be abiding. Once we had the distinction of being the center of 
business, of justice and of legal talent. But ambitious daughters, 
on either hand, became desirous of this distinction and we 
yielded to their demands by turning our jail into a peaceful 
dwelling and our court house into a town hall, because we 
believed that these ambitious daughters had more need of court 
houses and jails than we. With the yielding up of these we lost 
something of our prestige, but still retain the honor of our name. 
You have to-day given us something that our ambitious neighbors 
can not take from us — this granite monument. So in modest con- 
tent we rest; with a name prominent on the page of history ; with 
a manufactory of world-wide reputation and without a superior in 
its special field ; and with a monument standing as a land mark 
for the ages to come. In behalf of the citizens of Whitestown I 
thank you for what you have done for us this day; and now after 
an intellectual feast of history, of rhetoric and of poetry, I 
invite you to a humbler but no less essential collation for the 
refreshment of the physical man. Please follow to yon neighbor- 
ing tent. 



THE COLLATIOK 



The speakers of the day, members of the committee and the 
invited guests, headed by President Dunham and Hon. Samuel 
Campbell, with their wives, then marched in procession to ihe tents 
where the collation was spread. 

South of the park on the Whitcher lot the large tents were 
spread, under v/hich the invited guests were to feast. Thirteen 
long tables filled the space, at which plates were laid for seven 
hundred guests. The tent poles were handsomely twined with 
bunting, and their bases hidden in groups of house plants. Com- 
fortable benches surrounded the tables. Baskets and vases of 
flowers decorated the board. The good taste shown in their 
selection and arrangement is due to the efforts of the floral com- 
mittee, under the direction of Miss H. Gold Frost. Among the 
profusion of lilies, pansies, white [and purple fleur de lis, many- 
colored tulips, and roses, was a basket crowned Avith a superb 
white lily, having the date, 1884, in black on a center of white 
pyrethrum, sent by Mrs. Merritt, from Rome. There were also a 
pretty basket of flowers from Mrs. A. R. MacKenzie, a vase of white 
callas, bunches of single and double peonies, and baskets of wild 
floAvers, in which the white mandrake blossom w^as prominent. 
Mr. Benedict, of Yorkville, and Mr. Tunbridge, of Whitesboro, 
robbed their green-houses recklessly to make the tables bloom. 

The collation comprised the usual menu of cofiee and sand- 
wiches with the addition of delicious pies and cakes, biscuit, 
pickles, coffee, fruits and cream. Rarely is a public collation so 
elaborately prepared and so attentively served. Fifty maidens in 
pink and white, assisted by some of the Whitestown lads and 
marshaled by Mrs. White, attended to the wants of the guests. By 
each plate was a favor of pansies and forget me-nots, enveloped 
in a Japanese napkin. Across the south end of the tent over a 
line of bunting hung a green shield, on which was inscribed in 
white flowers, " 1784— White— 1884." This was afterwards 
presented to Hugh White. 

The table committee, headed by Mrs. E. J. Mack, had provided 
ample accommodations for the nine hundred guests who partook 
of the collation. Among the ladies and gentlemen in the tent was 
a liberal sprinkling of gray heads, most of whom were closely con- 



THE COLLATION. 57 

nected by family ties with the events of one hundred years ago. 
When the company were seated, President Dunham called upon 
Rev. R. L, Bachman, of Utica, to ask a blessing upon the feast. 
About an hour was then spent in doing justice to the collation. 

The local committee of Whitestown promised to feed six hundred 
people. It performed far more than it promised, and fed about nine 
hundred people, including the bands and many of the older residents 
of Whitestown and surrounding towns. The village made a record 
for hospitality of v/hich it may well be proud. 



AFTER DINNER REMARKS. 

At 3 p. M., Rev. M. E, Dunham, president of the village and 
toastmaster of the occasion, called the assemblage to order, and 
asked John F. Seymour to act for him. 

Mr. Seymour said Henry A. Foster, of Rome, and others could 
not be present. He called on, as the first speaker, Judge 
Wetmore, of Pennsylvania. 

Judge Wetmoi-e said he was present because a descendant, a 
great grandson of Hugh White, the pioneer. His ancestors had 
left this locality and had gone to the wilderness of northern 
Pennsylvania. It was a good thing for children to go back to the 
hearthstones of their ancestors. It was a pleasure for him to look 
into the faces of the descendants of the Whites and Wetmores 
here. He complimented the people on their enterprise and thrift. 

Rev. Thomas R. Gold Peck, of Waterville, v/as next called on. 
He said a little egotism on an occasion like this was pardonable. 
"It was in this dear old village of Whitesboro I first saw the 
light of the world, and was baptized by Rev. John Frost. Here 
I first attended school, and here I would come year after year 
when a resident of New York, to renew the wasted energies of 
city life." Mr. Peck spoke in a very pleasing manner of the old 
associations of the village. His grandfather, Thomas R. Gold, 
came here from Connecticut and established a law school. He sat 
in Congress and afterwards became government agent for the 
Indians. Rev. John Frost came here and married the eldest 
daughter of Thomas R. Gold, and the only direct descendant is 
Miss H. Gold Frost, who graces this occasion with her presence. 



58 



THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 



A large number of letters of regret had been received in response 
to invitations, sent to those having associations with this locality, 
but as there was not time then to read them all, or space now to 
print them, and as selections might be invidious, they are omitted. 
The following is a list of persons from whom regrets were received 
and their residences, the State being given, except New York: 



H. G. Abbott, Utica. 

C D. Adams, Utica.- 

Miss E. J. Alexander,WasMngton, D. C. 

Mrs. Rosamond Barbour, Saratoga Spa. 

Charles W. Barnes, Buffalo. 

Rev. Dr. Willis J. Beecher, Auburn. 

Hon. H. R. Bigelow, St. Paul, Minn. 

J. L. Bissell, Waterville. 

Cbarles A. Butler, Utica. 

Dr. A. N. Brockway, New York city. 

Lewis A, Brigliam, New York city. 

W. B. Camp, Sacketts Harbor. 

Hon. Horace Cai^ron.WasMngton, D. C. 

Hon. John D. Caton, Ottawa, 111. 

T. D. Catlin, Ottawa, 111. 

Hovey K. Clarke, Detroit, Mich. 

His Exc. Grover Cleveland, Albany. 

Ezra Chapman, Oneida. 

Mrs. Clifton, Washington, D. C. 

John Constable, New York city. 

Rt. Rev. A. C. Coxe, Buffalo. 

Hon. Alfred C. Coxe, Utica. 

John J. Crouse, Syracuse, 

Mrs. John Crouse, Syracuse, 

H. W. Dawley, Guelph, Canada. 

Rev. James Deane, Crown Point. 

George Doolittle, Washington, D. C. 

L. M. Drury, Canandaigua. 

Hon. C. E. Flandrau, St. Paul, Minn. 

William Floyd, Westernville. 

Joseph Foreman, Lima. 

John E. Frost, Topeka, Kan. 

Hon. H, A. Foster, Rome. 

John P. Garrett, South Trenton. 

E. A. Graham, Utica. 

Hon. S. Hastings Grant, New York city. 

T. F. Hand, Oneida. 

T, P. Handy, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Dr. P. M. Hastings, Hartford. Conn. 

Dr. J. W. Hitchcock, Mt. Vernon, 111. 



Wm. F. Hovey, Chicago, 111. 

John C. Hoyt, Utica. 

Robt. J. Hubbard, Cazenovia. 

Rev. T. B. Hudson, Clinton. 

Thos. G. Hull, Brookland, Pa. 

Mrs. K. W. Hutchinson, Albion. 

E. R. Johnes, New York city. 

D. M. K. Johnson, Rome. 

J. F. Kirkland, Washington, D. C, 

H. F. Locke, Waterville. 

Jas. H. Loomis, Attica. 

Rev. Dr. S. K. Lothrop, Boston, Mass. 

Chas. J. Lowery, Brooklyn. 

Rt. Rev. Theo. Lyman, Raleigh, N. C. 

Prof. E. North, Ham . College, Clinton. 

A. D. Neal, Paris. 

Chas. A. Olmstead, Lockport. 

Frank W. Owen, Boonville. 

Dr. J. E. Peck, St, Augustine, Fla. 

H. D. Peck, Staunton, Va. 

Merritt Peckham, Utica. 

Mrs. H. M. Peckham, Toledo, Ohio. 

Hon. F. D. Pennimau, Honesdale, Pa. 

Rev. G. F. Plummer, Portland, Oregon. 

Hon. W. C. Pierrepont, Pierrepont 

Manor. 
Dr, W. A. Pierrepont, Brooklyn. 
Mrs. Susan Porter, Cohoes. 
Dr. H, C. Potter, East Saginaw, Mich. 
Geo. Putnam, Waterville. 
Hon. Chas. Rhodes, Oswego. 
C. H. Roosevelt, New Rochelle. 
Hon. John Sayles, Brenham, Tex, 
Norman Seymour, Mt. Morris. 
Com. M. Sicard, Washing-ton, D. C, 
Geo. J. Sicard, Buffalo. 
Aaron Stafford, Waterville, 
S. H. Stafford, Oneida. 
Wm. K. Tibbits, Galesburg. Ill, 
Charlemagne Tower, Philadelphia, Pa. 



THE COLLATIOlSr, &V 

John C.Van Rensselaer, Rensselaer, Ind. Jas. H. White, Port Huron, Mich. 

H, C. Van Schaack, Manlius. Edgar White, Port Huron, Mich. 

Cornelius Van Sautvoord, New York Philo White, San Francisco, Cal. 

city. Robt. S. Wliite, San Francisco, Cal. 

B. S. Walcott, New York city. Canvass White, Perth Amboy, N. J. 

S. E. Warner, New York city. Mrs. Hugh White, Cohoes. 

H. P. Wilhird, Boonville. Hon. Peter White, Marquette, Mich. 

James C. Wetmore, Elizabeth, N. J. E. B. Wood, San Jose, Cal. 

Rev. W. W. Wetmore, Plymouth, Rev. Albert S. Wood, Rensselaer 

Mich. Falls. 

L. G. Wetmore, Ontario, 111. Wm. C. Young, New York city. 

Mrs. Myra A. Wheeler, Kent, Conn. Wm. S. Young, Buffalo. 

Louis Wilhelnii, Ft. Grant, Arizona. W. Edward Young, Buffalo. 

Erskine N. White, New York city. Mr. and Mrs. Caryl Young, Chicago, 
Alexander M. White, Brooklyn. 111. 

Dr. Bagf? read an old poem entitled " The Whitestown Rove," 
furnished by Mrs. D. B. Peck, of Marshall, with the following 
explanation : 

'* Reading about the Whitestown celebration I am led to send yoa 
an old time song which has been recited to me, from memory, by 
Mrs. Almira Barton, of Waterville, aged 81, widow of the late 
David Barton, one of the earliest settlers of this town, and sister of 
Mr. George B. Peck, of Marshall. Mrs. Barton says she memorized 
the words when a child, over 70 years ago, from hearing her blind 
aunt, Miss Roxanna Peck, sing them. It was called the ' Whites- 
town Rove,' and was composed in 1780, by those who, during the 
Revolutionary war, had been impressed with the fertility and beauty 
of the upper Mohawk region, as an invitation or exhortation to 
settlers to make their home in White's Town. Mrs. Barton is not 
aware that the lines were ever printed, and thinks the last line of 
each stanza was spoken. As a product of memory, and as a 
description of the physical and animal Whitestown of a hundred 
years ago, rather than as poetry, the song is as interesting as 
quaint." 

"The Whitkstown Rove," 1780. 

" Come all ye laboring hands 

That toil below 
Among the rocks and sands. 

To plow and sow. 
Come, and quit your hired lands 

Let out by cruel hands; 
You'll make large amends — 

(If you'll to Whitestown go.) 



60 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENNIAL. 

" There's maay a pleasant farm 

Lies on tliat vale; 
Where you can settle down, 

You need not fail — 
You'll make a large estate — 

(So don't come too late.) 

" Our cows they give us milk. 

By nature fed; 
Our fields afford us wheat 

And corn for bread. 
Oh! the sugar trees do s'and 

And sweeten all the land, 
We have them at' our hand — 

(So do not fear.) 

" The pigeon, goose and duck. 

To fill our beds; 
The beaver, coon and fox. 

To crown our heads. 
Oh! the harmless moose and deer 

Make food and clothes to wear; 
(Nature could do no more for any land.) 

" There stand the lofty pines — 

They make a show! 
As straight as any lines 

Their bodies grow, 
And their lofty limbs do rear 

Up to the atmosphere 
Where winged tribes repair; * 

(And most sweetly sing.) 

William Kirkpatrick of Syracuse, grandson of William Kirk- 
patrick, who came to Whitestown eleven years after Hugh White, 
was next called on. He said the Ononclagas sent greeting to the 
Oneidas. They still kept the fires burning brightly at their 
councils. In a few years the Onondagas would celebrate their 
centennial, and the Oneidas would then find the old long house 
open at both ends. His ancestor had lived here eleven years, and had 
represented this district in Congress. The speaker gave an inter- 
esting sketch of his ancestor, which was closely listened to. 

Mr. Seymour spoke of Captain Avery, who formerly lived in 
Whitestown, and whose daughter, Mrs. Hannah Avery Clark, 
lives at Utica with her son, George A. Clark. Captain Avery was 
a clergyman, who raised a company to fight in the Revolution. 



THE COLLATION. 61 

Horace P. Bigelow of Waterville, spoke pleasantly of the great 
progress made by the country during the past one hundred years. 

Professor A. G. Hopkhis of Hamilton College, was next called 
on and spoke of the value of preserving the history of towns. The 
history of Kirkland had been well written, and it was appropriate 
that the history of Whitestown should also be. 

Hon. David Gray of Marcy, was called on and said he was no 
more prepared to make a speech than he was to make a balloon 
ascension. He had known the people of Whitestown for sixty-five 
years, and had great respect for them. In the old days it was a 
custom for any one called on at a dinner, to make a speech, tell a 
Btory, or sing a song. He would conform to the custom by telling 
a story. This he did in most interesting style. 

Hon. Samuel Earl of Herkimer, spoke interestingly of the 
relations of Herkimer and Oneida counties. The first county 
clerk of Herkimer county lived in Whitestown', which was the 
county seat. Although Herkimer was sixty years older than 
Whitestown, Whitestov»^n within six or seven years took the lead 
in i3ublic spirit and enterprise. He read extracts from the diary 
of a lawyer who visited Whitestown in 1792, which showed that at 
that time Whitestown was quite gay. 

Rev. Dr. D. G. Corey said he never heard so many good things 
Baid about a people as he had heard about the Whitestown people 
to-day. If they were not proud, it was because they possessed 
an extra amount of humility. Soon after the settlement of the 
town, a young lady came here from Connecticut. After remain- 
ing for a time she returned to Connecticut and gave most glowing 
accounts of the new western country. The only objeclion which 
she had to the place was that the people were all democrats. The 
chairman (Mr. Seymour) labored under the same difficulty. 

He moved a vote of thanks to the ladies whose ministrations had 
been so faithful and v/ho had done so much to make the visitors 
happy to-day. 

The motion was unanimously cirried. 

Professor A. J. Upson spoke of the old elms of the village. He 
said his step-father was James Dean, who told him that when he 
was fourteen years old, just eighty years ago, he saw the elms 
planted in front of the residence of J. C. Smith, formerly the Judge 
Piatt and S. Newton Dexter house. 



62 THE WHITESTOWN CENTENISTIAL. 

Mr. Seymour read a poem entitled " Twenty Years Ago,'' written 
by Thomas Gold, Jr., son of Thomas R. Gold. 

Twenty Years Ago. 

I've wandered by the village, Tom, I've sat beneath the tree 
Upon the school-house playing ground, that sheltered you and me; 
But none were there to greet me, Tom, and few were left to know 
Who played with us upon the green, some twenty years ago. 

The grass is just as green, dear Tom, barefooted boys at play, 
Were sporting just as we did then, with spirits just as gay, 
The " master " sleeps upon the hill, which, coated o'er with snow. 
Afforded us a sliding place, some twenty years ago. 

The old school -house is altered some; the benches are replaced 
By new ones, very like the same our pen-knives had defaced. 
But the same old bricks are in the wall, the bell swings to and fro. 
Its music's just the same, dear Tom, as twenty years ago. 

The boys were playing some old game, beneath the same old tree; 
I do forget the name just now — you've played it oft witli me 
On that same spot; 'twas played with knives by throwing so and so. 
The loser had a task to do then — twenty years ago. 

The river's running just as still, the willows by its side 
Are larger than they were, dear Tom, the stream appears less wide. 
But the grape vine swing is ruined now, where once we played the beau 
And swung our sweethearts — " pretty girls " — full twenty years ago. 

The spring that bubbled 'neath the hiil, close by the spreading beech. 
Is very low — 't was once so high, that we could almost reach. 
And, kneeling down to get a drink, dear Tom, I started so. 
To see how much that I am changed since twenty years ago. 

Near by the spring upon an elm, you know I cut your name, 
Your sweetheart's just below it, Tom, and you did mine the same. 
Some heartless wretch had peeled the bark, 'twas dying sure but slow. 
Just as that cne whose name you cut died twenty years ago. 

My. lids have long been dry, dear Tom, but tears came to my eyes, 
I thought of her I loved so well — those early broken ties, 
I visited the old churchyard and took some flowers to strew 
Upon the graves of those we loved some twenty years ago. 

Some now are in the churchyard laid — some sleep beneath the sea, 
But few are left of our old class excepting you and me; 
And when our time has come, dear Tom, and we are called to go, 
I hope they '11 lay us where we played some twenty years ago. 



THE COLLATION. 63 

Rev. E. H. Payson of Oneida, said it was his privilege to be the 
pastor of the first Presbyterian churc]i of Whitestown, which was 
not then Whitesboro. He was acquainted with all the pastors of 
the town from the time of John Frost to the present day. He 
wished to say .a word for Jud<i;e Jedediah Sanger, one of the most 
prominent and best men of New Hartford, then Whitestown, who 
held court in a barn. 

Mr. Seymour. Didn't they pass whisky around after court 
adjourned ? 

Rev. Mr. Payson. Undoubtedly they did, especially if Mr. 
Sanger was a democrat. [Laughter.] 

Amos O. Osborn of Waterville, said his town (Sangerfield) was 
named after Judge Sanger, and in recognition of the honor, Judge 
Sanger gave the people a barrel of whisky or rather a cask of rum. 
Benjamin White first settled the town of Sangerfield, but he was 
not a relative of the Whites of Whitestown. 

Hon. S. S. Lowery spoke briefly and pleasantly. 

Rev. Mr. Conkling of Rochester, followed with a few remarks. 

Hon. William J. Bacon spoke pleasantly of Whitestown. He 
remembered it when he was but eight years old, as a very pretty 
little village. He remembei-ed its old court house, where the law- 
yers of the county engaged in legal struggles, and at the end of 
the day's work gathered around the large open fire place of the 
tavern and told stories. He tried his fii'st casein that court house, 
and gave a very interesting account of it. 

William W. Niles of New York, offered the following resolu- 
tions, which were unanimously adopted : 

Resolved^ That the thanks of the children of Oneida, in centen- 
nial celebration assembled, be extended to Hon. Charles Tracy, for 
his delightful, exhaustive and eloquent address ; and that a copy 
be requested for publication and preservation. 

Resolved^ That we have listened with great interest to the dedi- 
catory address, by Rev. Anson J. Upson, D. D, That it has 
renewed in us our reverence for our ancestors, and our love for our 
"kith and kin," and awakens us to a fuller realization of our duties, 
our responsibilities, our influence and our position. 

Resolved, That a copy be requested for publication. 



64 THE WHITESTOWJSr CENTENl^IAL. 

Resolved, That the aesthetic, liistoric and poetic verses by Benja- 
min F. Taylor have added largely to the pleasure and completeness 
of this occasion, and that a copy be requested for publication. 

William M. White offered the following, which were also adopted 
unanimously. 

Mesolved, That the thanks of this meeting be given to our chair- 
man, Hon. Samuel Campbell, for the active, energetic and earnest 
interest he has manifested in making the centennial of Whitestown 
a success, and securing this monument as a memorial of the settle- 
ment of the town. 

Resolved, That our thanks are also due to Dr. M. M. Bagg for 
his pei'sonal zeal and devotion in the arrangements for our cele- 
bration, and in summoning the children of Oneida county to 
commemorate their ancestors and their origin. And also to 
Thomas Foster for his efficient and successful labors as chairman of 
the finance committee. And last, but not least. 

Resolved, That we cordially thank the people of Whitestown 
and their representatives, and especially the ladies of Whitesboro, 
for the cordial, hearty, substantial. welcome given us, their guests, 
on this reunion of old friends and renewal of old memories. 

The afternoon's exercises closed at 4,30 p. m., all present having 
enjoyed themselves heartily. 



rFp 'nR 



